


Renegade and Red Hood

by Quinis



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kinda, Nightwing joins Red Hood, Other, References to Emotional Abuse, and becomes Renegade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-08-16 20:54:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 19
Words: 28,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8117245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quinis/pseuds/Quinis
Summary: Jason hadn't pulled himself out of his own grave and established himself as a crime lord for stuff like this.
   A story where Red Hood hears things about Nightwing/Dick Grayson and decides to follow-up. He eventually gets a partner calling himself Renegade.





	1. What's going on in Bludhaven?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CaraLee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaraLee/gifts).



> Notes: This is all Caralee's fault. We were talking about a certain run in Nightwing and I may have first made the 'what if Jason took Dick under his wing instead of Deathstroke?' question but Caralee was the one who threw a plot bunny at me which started this whole story! ...Although, this was probably not what they expected.
> 
> Honestly, I really liked the idea of Dick working with Deathstroke. But, I came into the idea through the Teen Titans cartoon where the idea was handled well and fanfiction created a much more awesome picture of what happened that, when I finally read the Renegade storyline, the comics were kind of disappointing. But, I like the idea and the way Dick ended up there was interesting. But, everything else... the characterisation and aftermath wasn't handled well. I don't even know if I can handle it well.
> 
> I'm building this story off the comics. That's why since I'm building off the comics, comic scenes will be picked and chosen at will and edited to fit within this new universe.
> 
> So, there will be reference to non-consensual sex later on in this story (once Jason gets a clue).
> 
> Edit 12/16: There's also some art to go with this! TheGoodIntent has posted a picture in their work [TGI Art Portfolio](http://archiveofourown.org/chapters/20185555?show_comments=true&view_full_work=false)

 

**Part 1 – What's going on in Bludhaven?**

Jason hadn't pulled himself out of his own grave and established himself as a crime lord for stuff like this. It really was true, you couldn't find good help these days.

The information broker was kneeling on the ground, snivelling. To be fair, Jason had shot his knee out so he couldn't stand but that wasn't a reason to start begging for his life instead of giving Jason what he wanted.

"If you want to live, you'll tell me why you're telling me this obvious lie," Jason said, voice distorted by the red hood overing his face. He flourished the gun in his hand as extra incentive to talk.

"I-It's not a lie! Tommy Tevis had been arrested, his wife's dead and his daughter is placing all her trust in the previous bodyguard, Dick 'Crutches' Grayson! I-I got the trust of the girl's bodyguard and he wouldn't even let me see the location addressed on Sophia's letter, just the name! I knew you would want to be informed of any-" the informant sniffled as tears continued to run down his cheeks- "power vacuums or opportunities in Bludhaven."

Jason sighed, trying to keep himself from placing another bullet in the man like he had done the first time he heard the news.

Dick Grayson… working for the mob? He wondered if Bruce knew.

If this information was real.

"Are you absolutely certain?" he questioned. A grin came to his voice and face as he spoke, images of Dick's fall in his head. Whatever this undercover mission was, Jason was ready to bring it crashing to the ground.

* * *

Finding Dick's hideaway was simple. The Golden Boy was transmitting it to anyone who knew how to listen because Nightwing was looking for Deathstroke.

For the second time, worry niggled at Jason. He knew Deathstroke's reputation. What was Dick doing getting the attention of someone like that?

He reminded himself that he was here to destroy Bruce's precious first Robin. Jason's way of doing things will take out the main inheritor of Bruce's way.

Jason knocked on the door numbered 14. There was a nervous fluttering in his belly. He couldn't be sure what would be waiting for him on the other side of the door.

The man who opened the door looked older than the Dick he remembered. Jason couldn't figure out what it was but he decided he didn't care.

"Hey, Grayson. I hear you're hanging out with some interesting people these days." He grinned and reached out.

Jason only intended to touch Dick on the shoulder or something, a light touch to kind of establish some kind of kinship. The kind of thing he had learnt from the few times Dick had interacted with him.

However, Dick flipped back, perching on the dresser behind him. Now Jason realised what the emotion was.

Anger. A dark simmering anger. It was not the fiery bursts of anger he had seen directed at Bruce when he was younger. It was something else.

"Red Hood. Jason Todd," Dick growled, eyes narrowing. "Get out of here!"

"Hmm," Jason hummed as if he was considering it. "No. See, I hear things, even in Gotham. What's this about you joining the mob?" He kept his voice light and amused. "Can't run away and join the circus, huh, Dick?"

Dick's hand curled a little tighter and Jason waited for a punch or fight.

"You know what? I don't have time to deal with you. I'm waiting for-"

"Deathstroke?" Jason internally preened at the shocked look on Dick's face. "Yeah, I know. How do you think I found you? You left enough clues for anyone. So, are you crazy or thinking of taking this 'undercover thing' to the next level?"

Jason had been watching his predecessor carefully however he still wasn't ready for the moment Dick pounced at him.

He fell off balance and was slammed into the mirror, which shattered. His hood cracked at the force.

"I was saving that move for Deathstroke but, I guess it'll do to get the message into your thick skull," Dick said to him in a low voice. "I'm not undercover."

"Oh?" Jason hummed, knowing that a pleasant tone could sometimes be more frustrating than anger. And Jason loved to be frustrating. Even when things seemed to be off. "What'll the B-man think?"

Dick almost released his arms, his grip loosening for a moment before tightening up. Jason hissed as his shoulders stung in protest.

"I failed," Dick whispered into where Jason's ear would be under the hood. "It's been a long year, Little Wing, filled with failure after failure. I got shot, my childhood was burned to the ground, I failed to save a building full of people who would be alive today if they hadn't been living near me and then," Dick let out a unsmiling laugh. "I froze." He said it like a secret joke between them. Jason's insides were churning. The more Dick spoke, the more he felt there was something wrong. "There was one man responsible for it all and when it came time to face him, I let him get shot. I could have jumped in front of the bullet." It felt wrong. "But, I failed." This wasn't Goldie; Bruce's Golden Boy.

Something was seriously wrong with Dick. Where was the Replacement? Barbara? Hey, where was Bruce during all this?

"I don't care," he growled out in response.

"Then leave," Dick responded forcefully, releasing him with a shove.

For a moment, Jason considered doing just that. Only for a moment. Then something else took over. …Curiosity? Yeah, that's what Jason was going to call it.

"What do you even want with Deathstroke?"

"I'm going to join him."

What? "Hey, if you're looking to be 'bad guy', why not join me?" Why did he say that? He didn't think he could leave Dick alone but he didn't think he could have Dick working under him. That was just... weird.

Dick seemed to be thinking the same.

"No offence but, Deathstroke asked first."

Jason snorted. "Seriously? That's a stupid reason."

Dick didn't even smile. The old Dick would have smiled just a little, just enough tell Jason that he knew Jason was trying to make a joke.

"How about this reason; I'm not looking to fight Batman. I have other plans."

That interested Jason. He wanted to know what those plans were. Although, if this was them in action, they were kind of crazy.

"I'll help you. That's more than you'll get from Deathstroke, right?"

Dick crossed his arms. "You don't have Deathstroke's skill."

"Excuse you?" Jason responded angrily. "I'm in a class of my own, Dick, and I'm willing to prove it any time you wish."

* * *

Those seemed to be the magic words because Dick agreed to fight him. Jason took Dick to one of his own safehouses in Bludhaven. It was a show of trust since Jason felt that this was probably a pivotal moment for Goldie. A pivotal moment of what, Jason didn't know. Was it wrong of him to hope that Dick was moments away from seeing that Jason's way was the best way?

Dick seemed single-minded in his desire to fight Jason. He followed silently as Jason guided him to the safehouse, which had a boxing ring in it for Jason's private use.

"Ready?" Dick demanded to know. Jason glanced at Dick's hands. They were wrapped and Dick seemed ready to go.

* * *

Reckless. Dick fought recklessly. Jason wouldn't have noticed if he didn't know Dick from before. A reckless Dick took to the air. More flips, even when they left openings for Jason to exploit. More jumps and leaps. Dick was burning energy, tiring himself out.

He fought like a man desperate to survive. He didn't banter. When he did manage to hit Jason, he hit hard. Jason's ears rang and that wrong feeling increased.

It was after another flip backwards on his hands that wasn't needed, that Jason kicked Dick to the ground with a sweeping kick. Not one to waste an opening, Jason climbed on top of Dick and held him down.

"I win. How's that for skills?"

Instantly, Jason realised two things.

One: Dick wasn't fighting back. With someone on top of him, Dick should be fighting back.

Two: Dick wasn't looking at him. Dick's eyes were focused on something else, Jason didn't know what but it wasn't him.

"Fine. Get off." At least Dick was speaking.

"Now, what was the plan? Does it have something to do with Sophia Tevis?"

Dick flinched at the name.

"What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you know?" This didn't seem like the kind of thing to escape Dick's notice. "Her mother was killed, her father arrested and she's locked up in some state facility. And you know what happens after that."

Dick cursed. "I don't suppose you have outfits hidden around here?"

Jason snorted and ignored the foul look Dick shot him. "Got nothin' in your colours, Dickie."


	2. Part 2 – Girls and Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Jason is still very much in denial about what he's doing with Dick. And they don't really do anything criminal yet. But hey, at least Jason figured out a new name for Dick (which they're not going to use).

 

**Part 2 – Girls and Plans**

* * *

Dick held up a picture. Jason was slightly distracted by the red and dark red uniform and dark red almost-cowl he was wearing. Dick's hair still whipped free and his mouth was visible. So much red, it made Jason nervous for some reason.

"This is Sophia," Dick said. "And, if you've joining me on this, no one can get hurt."

"We don't want anyone knowing we've taken the girl, right?" Jason said. Dick paused for a moment before reluctantly nodding, like he hadn't expected Jason to realise that. "Look, I might not know her like you do but I don't want her in the system either."

Sneaking in was simple. Dick didn't need him for this but Jason wasn't willing to leave him alone. He told himself he didn't want Dick running off to join Deathstroke. Jason's area of work was tough enough without having to worry about what Deathstroke was doing with Dick.

Plus, the longer he stuck with Dick, the more information he could gather in order to destroy him.

They made quick work of the security camera and Dick crept over to the bed Sophia was sleeping in. Jason watched as Dick silently woke her and quietly told her that he had come to get her.

She hugged him. Jason gagged. Dick always had a way with the ladies.

There was a movement on the other side of the door; noticeable through the frosted glass window.

Dick and Jason shared a look. Dick pointed to the door and Jason nodded, moving to be the first one out.

He let Dick take care of getting the girl down to street level.

"You're a real, live superhero!" Sophia practically crowed once they were safe.

Jason snorted.

"I'm just glad you're safe, Soph."

"Sorry, but we're the furthest thing from superheroes you can get, sweetheart," Jason said to her.

Dick glared at him. "Seriously, Red Hood?"

Jason shrugged back. "Think they'll notice she's missing?"

"Probably not. But we're not waiting around to find out."

Jason noticed that Dick didn't deny the superhero claim.

* * *

It all bubbled over when they reached Gotham. Being in Gotham made Jason twitchy. Jason wore just his domino mask and a jacket as Dick guided them to a Gotham apartment. It belonged to the dark haired, crossbow loving vigilante known as Huntress. The only reason Jason wasn't smashing either of their heads in was because he wanted a moment alone with Dick.

"Just a moment, Helena," Dick said, finally cuing into Jason's frantic gesturing. The moment they were outside, Jason grabbed Dick by the throat and rammed him up against the door.

"What kind of game are you playing?"

"Yeah, I know. I can't leave Sophia here," Dick said. Jason couldn't tell if he was being infuriating on purpose. "Helena said as much."

"And what are you planning?" Jason said angrily. Dick had no right to be taking people and moving them around all the time, subject to his whims.

"A meeting with Deathstroke."

"I'm asking how Sophia fits into all this?"

"Jason," Dick sighed as if it was his fault he couldn't understand.

Rage was a quick thing. It washed over Jason's vision and he tossed Dick into the other wall before punching his gut. "You're still playing at being the hero-"

"No! I'm not!" Dick countered as he tried to force him away. Jason just grabbed the punch Dick threw at him and hit Dick back on the chin. Once he cooled off, Jason would realise that it was strange that Dick hadn't been able to fight back. Like something was affecting his combat ability.

In the moment, rage clouding his vision, Jason could only stand over Dick and taunt, "really? I haven't seen you do one bad thing this whole time. You went and rescued a mobsters' daughter!"

"I owed it to her to help! Plus, she's in the perfect position to watch and control Bludhaven's crime!"

They both froze, eyes wide under masks. The rage washed away into a cool anger in Jason's chest.

"What?" Control crime? "Are you going to use her?"

Dick looked away. "I'm not a good person."

"You're going to use her."

Dick's eyes flashed in the light as he stood up. "At least I'm not going to be killing mob heads! If we're lucky, the mob families will just fall into the new status quo!" he growled at Jason.

"'If _we're_ lucky'?" Jason sneered. "If _you're_ lucky! I don't put children in danger to achieve my goals!"

Dick sneered right back. "Right, you just **kill** people!"

"I don't. Put. Children. In. Danger." Jason's voice had dropped low as he took a step forward, right into Dick's person space. "She's not staying here. Not in Gotham. Not in Bludhaven."

"Ja-" Jason threw another punch and a kick, not caring one iota as Dick crumbled to the ground.

He went back into Helena's apartment and pulled some money out of his belt. He pressed it into Sophia's hands.

"Take this. Go somewhere new. Across the country maybe. Live a normal life," Jason snorted. On the ride here, he recalled her mentioning something about feeling like her future was predestined to go down a dark path. That people were pushing here there, but mostly into the crime she had been born into.

Maybe that's why he was so determined to give her a choice but he wasn't going to think too hard about it.

"Helena, help her get set up to leave. Consider that returning whatever favours you owe Dick."

"Hey!" Helena shouted at him, trying to get his attention. She froze as Dick appeared in the doorway, a split lip indicating that he was going to have bruises the next day.

"Say buh-bye, Dickie-bird," Jason said in a calm tone as he grabbed Dick's arm and pulled him down the hallway.

* * *

"I guess Nightwing was going to reap the benefits of whatever information your little mob teen could get you," Jason snorted as they made their way to Dick's bike. It was a nice bike and he considered making it his.

After a moment pause, Dick said, "Deathstroke to keep the metas out, Sophia to control the criminals, Amy to get the police force running well and no need for Nightwing."

Jason froze, inches from touching distance of the nice bike.

"What?"

Dick's gaze was angry but there was no anger in his voice, only exhaustion as he repeated what he said and added;

"I was going to force Deathstroke into a situation where he would have to accept my terms."

"How?"

"I was going to wing it. I would promise myself to his service if that's what it would take."

Jason's anger was fading. It was difficult to be angry with someone who sounded exhausted. Like they had the worries of the world on their lone shoulders.

Dick chuckled. "Do you see now, Jay? I'm bad."

Jason took a deep breath. There was much loaded into that one statement and he had no idea how to begin countering it.

Instead, he had to question in a hated, almost childish voice, "no Nightwing?"

"With the monopoly, there would be no need for Nightwing. Nightwing only attracts the metas anyway."

Jason shook his head. The idea that Dick would practically sell himself made him feel ill. He had no idea where to go with that.

* * *

While heading back to Gotham, the subject of where Dick was living came up. Because Jason wasn't going to take him back to a place Deathstroke knew about.

"What are you talking about?" Dick questioned blankly. "I'm living at the motel."

"The motel?" Jason questioned, recalling where he found Dick. That wasn't a place to live long term. "Not even an apartment?"

"No. Now let me drive," Dick said.

"No," Jason echoed, pulling the bike back onto the road before Dick could convince him to let them switch places. He pondered what Dick had said earlier, about failing people who lived in the same building as him. It looked like Jason might need to research why that was.

* * *

A bunch of papers were tossed at him. Jason quickly gathered them all up. A glance at the papers showed names like 'Talia Al Ghul', 'Deathstroke', and 'Lex Luthor'. It was a web of allegiances and, if Jason knew these people, potential backstabbing and conflicts.

"Oh boy. Where'd you get all this?" he asked Dick as Dick slipped into the seat next to him.

"You asked for the plan."

"What kind of plan is this?"

"There's an unholy alliance going on. I'm looking for my way in."

The information was in Dick's scrawl. The pen and paper were Jason's. This safe house didn't have a computer and Dick hadn't left the whole time.

"Did you write all this from memory?" Dick gave him a look that said 'of course' as he nodded. "You do realise that this isn't a bad thing to do? You're looking to take out bad guys."

"Or work under them," Dick admitted.

"Me," Jason reminded him. "You're going to work under me." Dick looked ready to argue but, Jason had a counter argument. "I can get you in with these guys." How he loved saying that. He wished he had a camera to take a picture of Dick's shocked expression. Witnessing Dick's leave of Bruce's teachings would be one thing, but to encourage it? The idea had a lot of appeal, even if it was one of his more dangerous ones. "Not yet though. Instead, how about tonight we cause some chaos in Bludhaven?" Jason wasn't stupid; Dick's heart wasn't in crime. At any moment, his 'brother' could turn on him.

Dick hesitated.

"I'm the best option you've got," Jason reminded him. "Anyone else would have killed you by now, Nightwing."

"Don't call me that." Dick looked down at the red across his outfit with a distasteful frown. It was only then that Jason noticed that he hadn't changed out of his uniform before bed.

"New name for the new costume, huh? What am I supposed to call you then? Dickwing?"

Irritation and annoyance flashed on Dick's face for a moment. "No. Never."

"Dickwing, it is!"


	3. Part 3 - Deathstroke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Okay, admittance time. There’s one song I’ve been constantly listening to as I write this. I first started listening to it when writing the first chapter and I just continued listening to it as I typed everything so far. Just the one song.  
> Still not sick of it.  
> [Undertale - Battle Against A True Hero (English Cover) by Melt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrymfTxG6EA)

**Part 3 - Deathstroke**

It turned out that Dick knew of a ring of car thieves in Bludhaven that worked predicibly around the city. It was the regular stuff except this ring had a speciality. They were after performance chips. Chips with the ability to seriously overclock an engine when hacked and all because of a factory flaw.

They were beautiful things in Jason's opinion and taking out a few car thieves was icing on the cake.

He didn't even need his gun.

"Found anything yet?" he questioned, leaning against the car they just saved from the thieves. The four thieves lying unconscious on the ground.

Dick looked up from where he was rifling through pockets. His expression was hidden behind his deep red mask as he held up a blank docket probably belonging to their auto-shop by day and chop-shop by night.

* * *

Jason and Dick burst into the chop-shop and started beating up on the men inside. It was all going fine until Jason brought out his gun and shot one of the criminals in the shoulder. The man went down, dropping the pipe he had been about to slam into Jason.

"Red Hood!" Dick cried out in anger. "What do you think you're doing?"

"This might be your lead but I'm in charge," Jason shouted back. He was not angry but elated with the rush of a fight. "Or do you think you would be pulling stuff like this with Deathstroke?"

"They're just car thieves!"

One of them bolted for the door and Jason raised his gun. Dick grabbed his arm and pulled the man out of the line of fire. Jason fired and because of the limpet on his arm, he missed.

"You dare-!"

"He'll lead us back!" Dick bellowed at him. Then Dick took a few furious breaths, attempting to calm down. "You trained with him so you surely know that if you let them think they've gotten away-"

"They'll lead us back to the nest," Jason finished with realisation. "Well, I guess that beats torturing that information out of them." He kicked the head of the man he had shot, knocking him unconscious. He didn't need anyone informing the ones behind it all.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could swear he saw Dick flinch. However, when he turned back, Dick looked as impassive as he normally was.

It was freaking Jason out to realise he was getting used to this quiet and mostly emotionless version of Dick. Except for those momentary flashes of anger, Jason wasn't getting much out of Dick without initiating conversation.

They got the man behind it all in an epic car and motorcycle chase that ended with Dick jumping from motorbike to the car and pitching it over a bridge while saving the man. Jason was annoyed that they had to hand him over to the police but the police had almost surrounded the bridge and handing the guy over was the best way to distract them in order to make their escape.

* * *

The last thing Jason expected to encounter the next night was Deathstroke and his daughter.

Dick noticed them first, jumping out of the way as Deathstroke came bearing down on them. Jason immediately swore as he spotted a flash of orange in his peripheral vision. He kicked out, the silver-haired apprentice jumping out of the way. Jason fired a few shots at her.

"I heard you were looking for me, Grayson?" Deathstroke said. Jason turned to see Dick pressed up against the building, Deathstroke's arm pressed against his throat. "It was rude of you to up and vanish like that."

"You were late," Jason growled, firing at the old man. He didn't expect to hit as he knew Deathstroke's reputation. "He works for me now."

They had left the bike a block away, too far to help them out in this battle. Deathstroke rushed him and Jason fired a few more shots as he circled around the mercenary and his shots forced Deathstroke to circle him in turn.

"You're delusional if you believe that, Hood," Deathstroke informed him.

Jason knew that. They exchanged a number of punches and blocks.

"Leave him alone!" Dick shouted at Deathstroke.

"Focus on me!" Ravager said, leaping and attempting to kick Dick.

There were a few silent moments between the four as they all fought each other.

Dick was almost effortlessly avoiding all of Ravager's attacks, frustrating her to no end.

Jason was having a tougher time. Deathstroke was a good fighter.

Jason believed he was better though. He used his grappling hook and fired it up at the streetlight. He used that to get some height and distance before shooting at Deathstroke again.

Dick twisted Ravager's arm behind her back and shoved her at Deathstroke.

Deathstroke was an almost immovable object and Ravager didn't even unbalance him for a moment. However, it did cause a pause in the battle.

"Deathstroke," Dick said in a strong voice. "I'm working for the Red Hood. He made a better deal."

Deathstroke's body language spoke interest as he moved to face Dick. Jason could have shot him in the back although not while Ravager was watching him. There was no doubt that she would interfere.

"Sounds like you're working for money."

"It's not like I have any," Dick responded with a shrug. "Going from bodyguard for Tommy Tevis to bodyguard for Red Hood is actually a step-up career wise. I doubt you have the need for a bodyguard. Besides, you already have help." He nodded at Ravager.

"That is true," Deathstroke mused. "Call me, Grayson, when you want to carve your own path rather than standing around and looking pretty for the mob bosses of Bludhaven."

* * *

"You lead an interesting life," Jason commented as they entered the safe house.

"I guess," Dick responded as he pulled his mask off and made his way to the bedroom.

"No way, Dickwing-"

"Don't call me that," Dick interrupted but Jason ignored it.

"You take the shower first."

Dick's eyes widened for a moment before he commented, "it's your safe house."

"Yeah, and I have things I want to do. Like get a meal started. You go first."

Dick looked like he was about to argue and Jason watched him closely. He still expected Batman or someone allied with Nightwing to come bursting in to arrest him. He was always watching Dick, waiting for the moment Dick would rat him out.

Nothing happened. Nothing except the shower only running for a few minutes. Jason watched the door from the moment the sound of the spray ended so he was looking when Dick emerged only moments later.

The first thing that hit Jason was how pale he was.

Dick ran a hand through his wet hair and commented, "uh, do you think I should use a gun?"

What. The.

"Because I'm working with you and you use guns," Dick continued to ramble apparently ignorant of how Jason's brain had just stalled.

"I'm not giving you a weapon you're not used to using. That's just stupid."

"I can use a gun."

Jason recalled a moment too late that Bruce made sure that they all knew how to handle and care for a gun, even though he didn't want them to use one. Knowledge was power.

"So?" he snorted, brain scrambling to come up with a cover-up. "We don't have to use the same weapon. Stick with your fists, Dickie."

Dick was silent for another few moments before nodding and agreeing. After that Dick stayed in his room. He didn't contact anyone.

Jason checked.


	4. Part 4 – Arsenal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: This chapter uses dialogue from Nightwing #114. Also, for the purposes of this fic, let's just ignore the existence of the Outsiders who are mentioned in the original comic (sorry, Outsiders fans). In this universe, Arsenal has been working on his own for a while.

 

**Part 4 – Arsenal**

Dick held up a suit. Jason groaned in response. He didn't like suits at all.

"It's a party," Dick reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, Dickwing, I know," Jason grumbled taking the suit from his brother. He moved behind a partition and started a quick-change.

"Don't call me that."

"It's not like you're giving me any options."

He heard Dick huff. He was actually glad to hear some frustration from Dick. Made him seem more animated and like the Dick he remembered. Jason had been checking old surveillance and hacked into a few of the less protected computers of the hero community.

Nightwing was a hero and, if Jason hadn't known who was under the mask, he would assume that Dick was someone else. The Nightwing Jason had discovered was the Dick he sort of remembered. He made quips as he encountered criminals, had a network of heroes who had worked with him and would again and fought with purpose.

It was different to now. Dick's whole being was screaming 'don't touch me, stay away'. He fought without the quips and jokes and moved without the generally friendly manner. Dick seemed to fight because he didn't know any other thing to do, deferring to Jason. Jason didn't want to admit that was the thing which he found the strangest. He never thought Dick would look to _him_ for direction.

"Renegade. Is that okay?" Dick's tone was hard.

"What?" Jason checked his bowtie by feel and then pulled his collar down over it.

"You can call me Renegade."

"You actually have a bad guy name picked out?" Jason questioned with a smirk. Dick glared.

"Shut up, Jay."

"Make me," Jason shot back automatically.

Dick relaxed a little at the banter and an idea hit Jason.

"Hey, I bet you can't get to the information before I do."

Dick's grin faltered. Jason ignored the pang of dismay. "Seriously? This isn't a game."

Maybe it should be, Jason thought. Dick had been someone who liked to make training fun. Or utterly horrifying. Challenge was fun to Dick. For a moment, Jason wondered if he had taken the replacement out for blind-folded train surfing yet. Jason kind of wanted to see the kid jumping blindfolded over train carriages. It'd be good for a laugh.

"What's the matter, Renegade? Afraid you'll lose?"

Dick huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. Got him, Jason thought.

"Fine."

* * *

Jason sipped at his glass and looked around. It was a small gathering. He spotted Lex Luthor and his entourage at some of the tables around the edge of the room.

"Did you want to go say 'hi'?" Dick asked him when he noticed where Jason was looking.

Jason huffed and took another sip.

"You're my bodyguard, not my adviser," he reminded the older man. "Just stand there and look pretty."

Dick's face went blank as he turned away. He didn't move away, keeping his cover as Jason's bodyguard but he didn't say another word.

"Let's get this race underway," Jason said quietly to him when Dick's attitude was beginning to frustrate him. Jason found an exit by the back way and pretended he was going outside to answer a phone call. The guards didn't really seem to care, after all he was leaving the party.

Security was at the front, inside and around the perimeter. No one bothered putting security out the back where any intruders would have been stopped at the perimeter or the exit. It made people lax. No one noticed as Jason free-climbed his way up the building by using the window ledges and the brickwork, just in time to see Dick open a window on the second floor.

He cursed as he climbed in, annoyed that he lost although he was oddly relieved to see a smile grace Dick's face for just a moment.

"Time?" Jason asked, getting to work. They needed to finish before anyone came.

"There's a little under four minutes left." Dick started tapping at the computer with Jason looking over his shoulder. "I'm looking for the location of a large shipment of nandrolone decanoate."

"Make sure it's local. I'm not springing for travel fees," Jason quipped. He knew that with Luthor in town, there was guarantee of at least one local shipment of venom serum components. Nandrolone decanoate was the easiest one to trace.

Although, what were the odds that a certain red-haired someone would ping on this trace? This probably counted as Dick contacting Oracle and Jason wondered if he should dump the older ex-Robin or let him think he had Jason fooled.

* * *

Here was the moment. Dick was going to betray him to the 'good guys'. Jason was not surprised to see an arrow come flying at the henchman who had thought he was sneaking up on the Red Hood. The man went down with a cry.

"Nightwing?"

Jason rammed a head into the concrete floor, surprise tickling in his chest. Arsenal sounded like he hadn't expected Dick to be here.

"Nightwing? That you man? Good to see you fighting the good fight, bro!"

Under his red hood, Jason rolled his eyes. Just leave him with all the angry henchmen. There were only four of them; four brutes who must be on the venom-like experiments resulting from this shipment because they didn't stay down.

He ducked a punch, only to be knocked to the ground. He rolled out of the way of another punch, returning it with one of his own the moment the henchman's fist hit the concrete and his face was in Jason's.

Jason's punch actually hit.

Arsenal was still talking. "I've been hearing all these crazy rumours that you've gone over to the dark side."

"Arsenal. Get out of here. _Now_ ," Dick ordered.

Huh. Jason had not expected that. Seems like Dick hadn't been trying to inform anyone and this was just a bad coincidence. Or one big act.

"What are you doing with the Red Hood? Is he guarding this? Or are we sort of teaming up? Tell me it's the first one, I fancy a fight against him."

"What'd you just say?" Dick sounded offended.

Yeah, what? Jason was doing all the work. The balding bulk went down with an arrow to his upper arm and Jason used his back as a spring board to flip over the other three henchmen.

Finally, Arsenal jumped into the fray, taking out the arm of a blond bulk and moving in to punch him out.

Jason took down another and turned just in time to see Dick leap in with a kick to the third's chin and a leaping knee to the fourth. Arsenal tossed throwing knives at the balding bulk as Jason kicked another into a concrete beam. Dick punched the fourth to get him to stay down and Arsenal hit the third with an arrow to the knee.

Jason turned to Dick, expecting him to be cheery with his friend being here.

No such luck. If anything, Dick seemed frustrated. His body was tense, still ready to fight even though their enemies were down.

Or maybe not. Jason's hand went to his holstered gun as he noticed Arsenal point his crossbow at him.

"Hey, so how about we take down the Red Hood, get a serum sample and check the building cafeteria for a beer?" Arsenal said to Dick.

* * *

Jason smirked under his hood. As if some red-haired archer was enough to take him down. Even with a crossbow pointing at his chest.

"Do me a personal favour, Roy?" Dick said.

Jason paused. He was willing to admit, Dick was a wild card right now. It was unnerving that he couldn't predict his moves.

"Sure, man. Anything."

"Don't get up."

Roy stared. "What?"

"Don't. Get. Up." Dick kicked Roy in the gut and then gave him a one-two punch.

Jason was glad for the hood because it meant that Dick couldn't see his jaw drop.

"Let's get the serum," Dick said to him, storming towards the exit. He picked up Roy's crossbow and snapped it in two as he went, discarding the pieces.

Jason was impressed and a little in awe. Also a little confused but he dismissed that in favour of getting away.

* * *

Jason was still confused when they made it back to the safe house. He pulled off the hood and looked over at Dick, who was still wearing his mask.

When was the last time he saw Dick out of uniform? Even Jason switched to shirts and jeans after they were done for the night.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"What?" Dick asked in a baffled tone.

"That!" Jason repeated, motioning to the air as he spoke. "You beat up Arsenal. I thought you were friends; he was talking to you like a friend."

"Shut up," Dick said shortly, "you don't know what you're talking about."

"So you're not friends? Or do you plan to never contact anyone who knows Nightwing while you're Renegade? Because I can tell you, that's going to be impossible." They were already dealing with Deathstroke.

"Shut up, Jason!" Dick bellowed. "What was I supposed to do? Stand there and let him shoot you-" Dick choked on his words. "Think whatever you like," he snapped before storming out of the safe house.

Jason considered following him. However, there was another plan brewing in his mind.


	5. Part 5 – Ravager

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: I don't know about this chapter. There are parts of it I'm iffy on but I've though long and hard about whether they should be included or not. Also, I have a collaborative wiki assignment I'm supposed to be working on during the next two weeks so, updates will probably slow.

 

**Part 5 – Ravager**

In cliché criminal style, Jason returned to the scene of the crime. The place was swarming with bulky henchmen, clearing the place out before the police appeared.

Arsenal was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, that's a bust," he mused to himself. He was hoping to find Roy still knocked out.

"Glad to disappoint." Jason moved out of the way as an arrow came flying at where he was standing. Arsenal stepped out of the shadows of the rooftop with his bow drawn and an arrow pointing at him. "That was my warning shot."

"You look good for a guy beaten up by his friend almost an hour ago," Jason mused.

"Extra padding," Roy informed him. "Oracle gave me a heads up about what you two were planning."

 _'You two'_. "Me and Renegade?" Jason questioned in an amused tone. The sound of that made him feel light. Jason liked working alone but he also liked having someone to watch his back. Plus, a savage part of him wanted to find out just how Bruce would react.

"I didn't want to believe it," Roy growled. "Just tell me, what did you do to Nightwing to make him change sides?"

"Nothing," Jason admitted with a shrug. "He was already there when I got there. Whatever happened, happened before me."

"Whatever happened, happened before you, huh?" Roy repeated. Jason rolled his eyes under his hood. It was obvious that Roy was repeating that for someone who was listening in. "Have you even tried to look into it?"

"Some criminal went after his civilian identity, etcetera, etcetera." Jason waved his hand, waving the question off. He had tried to look into it. As best he could tell, it was a mess. "Next I hear, he's put himself out there. At least I'm not Deathstroke. And he's-" Jason hesitated for a moment as the question of what Dick was rushed through his mind, along with the realisation that he didn't consider Dick his enemy. "Working with me. He chose this." Jason's chest constricted and he needed to change the subject. "How about you tell me why Renegade doesn't want to see anyone?"

"What are you talking about?" Roy growled at him. It would be intimidating to the average person or criminal however, it didn't compare to Batman or even Dick. Jason was unaffected.

"He doesn't want to see you. Or anyone else, I assume. So, what happened?"

"I don't know!"

"You never tried to look into it?" Jason countered, intentionally echoing Roy's words from moment ago.

Roy went silent. He relaxed his bow. "We all heard about it, of course but- but he," Roy had no idea what to say. It was all excuses. Instead, he snapped, "I'm here now, aren't I?"

"You are, aren't you?" Jason mused.

* * *

Jason cursed as he tossed the man against the wall. Behind him, Renegade was helping the young woman to her feet and telling her to go.

"Look at what she's wearing; she's just looking for a nice guy to show her a good time," the man rambled, panicked as Jason pulled out his gun.

"What you had in mind wasn't a 'good time'," he sneered, kicking the man in the knee and breaking it.

Jason ignored the man's pained cries. He wouldn't be making that noise for long anyway.

Dick didn't say a word. Jason glanced back as he pointed the gun at the man, making it clear that he was going to shoot him.

Renegade stared, body tense.

"Renegade?" Jason questioned. A thought whispered in his head that he could kill this guy before Dick came to his senses. Killing right in front of Bruce's golden boy. That thought filled him with energy.

Renegade's mouth opened and then closed, eyebrows knitting as if he was thinking through something. In that moment, Jason pulled the trigger. Renegade flinched back against the wall behind him. Jason only looked back at the body to make sure the man was dead. Then he grabbed his partner and pulled him away.

Renegade was like a deadweight.

* * *

At the safe house, Dick dropped onto the ground and leaned against the wall, knees to chest and head in his hands. Jason had little patience for the 'woe is me' act.

"Dick, get up," he ordered. "Shower and go to bed."

"No," Dick mumbled, "…m'head hurts. Can't move."

Jason rolled his eyes. He figured he could at least get some painkillers since Dick wasn't talking about earlier and preaching at him for killing.

* * *

It looked like an ordinary, sleek and modern home. However, the windows were not the kind that could be opened and Jason noticed the cameras monitoring the property.

"You think they know we're here?" he joked, glancing back at Dick.

"I think they've known for a while," he commented. There had been a figure in blue and orange watching them as they moved around.

Ravager hadn't been able to locate the safe house but she had tracked them down a couple of times when they spent too long on the streets.

"Can't believe you two came here," Ravager commented, dropping down from the roof.

Jason grinned at her from behind his hood. "We need to get your dad off our back."

Ravager frowned and her eye narrowed. "And you do that by making more work for him?"

"I guess so."

"Rose, could you let him know we're here to see him?" Dick said.

She shrugged uncaringly. "I guess. What am I calling you? Deathwing?"

Dick winced and Jason laughed at his reaction.

"Renegade," Dick corrected in a distasteful tone.

Ravager opened the door and guided them upstairs. She stopped in front of a closed door and knocked. "Daddy? Renegade and Red Hood are here to see you."

They walked in to find Deathstroke out of uniform, wearing only a dark navy shirt and pants. He stood behind the desk, fists placed on it and frustration and annoyance radiating from him.

"You boys have been busy," he commented as they entered. Dick didn't move as the man levelled a one-eyed glare at him. "You're walking a thin line, Grayson."

"Okay, great to know," Jason commented lightly as he stepped forward. He didn't like being ignored. "But that's not the business I'm here for."

"You are wasting your time, Red Hood."

"You work security for the society, we just robbed the society, I think you can take a few moments to chat with us."

"I am well aware of what you boys did."

"Then you know that we brought the serum here for you," Jason said in a smug tone. "And you can do what you want with it."

Deathstroke's eyebrow raised and he looked suspicious but he was listening.

"Really? And what have I done to warrant this?"

"I want you to leave Renegade alone, stop sending your daughter to watch us, seriously, that's creepy, and I get some run in Bludhaven."

Deathstroke hummed and moved out from behind the desk. "I have no interest in territorial disputes. I go where I wish and as long as our paths don't cross as enemies then what you do does not concern me." He looked over at his daughter. "Rose, you need to work on your stealth."

Ravager nodded but rolled her eye. "Come on, Dad. Renegade's really good at stealth, even you say so."

Deathstroke turned to her. "Rose. You need to be better than your opponent or you will be killed."

"Hold on," Jason said, stepping forward. He saw the disappointment flash across Ravager's face. Her understanding of their work was still childish and probably idealistic however, Deathstroke's phrasing of 'be better' set off alarm bells in Jason's head. "She's just a teenager and you shouldn't limit your teaching to just 'be better'. Or do you want her to die before she's an adult who knows better?"

"Red Hood, this is my home. Watch your tone."

"I say what I want, how I want. You can't stop me."

"It's true," Dick said, stepping forward to back him up. "Look, you have your serum and if you return it, the society will hail you. Or you might keep it to keep your job relevant." He had figured out that the society was trying to create venom in order to make their own army of 'Banes'. That would mean they wouldn't need Deathstroke's services. The society wasn't the kind of organisation to send people off with a severance package. Unless it was severance of your head from your shoulders.

There was a moment of silence as Deathstroke thought.

"You know, Luthor was saying something about a job opening the other night," he mused. "If you're really interested in this society, then maybe you should inquire about it."

"Thanks for the tip," Jason said, tipping an imaginary hat. He was beyond ready to leave. "Seriously," he said to Dick as they walked out of the house. "How do you deal with that guy?"

Dick shrugged. "Just do."

They were heading back to the bike when someone dressed in dark red dropped down from a tree and planted themselves atop Dick, pinning him to the ground.

"Alright. Now we're going to talk," Arsenal said.


	6. Part 6 – Misunderstandings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Chapter title references some of the information passing between Roy and Jason. Everyone's making assumptions and Dick doesn't want to talk.

 

**Part 6 – Misunderstandings**

* * *

Dick tried to shove Arsenal off him but he wasn't having much success. It didn't help that he was shooting glares at Jason.

"Aren't you going to help?" Dick asked.

Jason looked at Roy. "Are you going to attack him?"

"Not if he stays still," Roy shot back without taking his eyes off Dick.

Jason grinned at he turned back to Dick. Amusement tinted his voice as he said, "I don't think you need my help."

The mask hid the intensity of Dick's glare but not the angry red colouring his face.

"Come on, Nightwing. Just tell me what happened. Why are you hanging around with criminals and calling yourself Renegade?"

Dick violently twist his wrists inside Roy's hands and let out a tiny growl.

"I know I shouldn't ask this but, does it have something to do with Blockbuster?"

Dick froze. Jason's attention honed in on him. He knew about Blockbuster, the crime lord in control of Bludhaven. Large and known for snapping necks with his bare hands. He was also smart, which is how he rose to power in the first place.

Now that Jason thought about it, he hadn't heard much about him recently.

"What happened to Blockbuster?" Jason asked.

"He's dead," Roy told him.

Jason gave a low whistle. Monsters like that were difficult to kill. "Good riddance."

"Yeah, if anyone deserved it, he did. Made a mess of Nightwing's life."

Wait. That sounded familiar.

"That doesn't make it right," Dick countered.

"Don't tell me he's the guy you let get shot." Jason rolled his eyes. "The one you feel you failed? Get over it. You didn't pull the trigger."

"I might as well have!"

Jason groaned. His hand reached for his face and rubbed against his hood in frustration.

"You're an idiot. Being a bystander to a murder does not make you a murderer."

"Actually, it can. Depending on the circumstances," Roy responded.

Jason glared at him. "You are not helping."

Dick took advantage of their distraction to roll and twist so that he was atop Roy.

"You're working together?" he questioned them both, glancing between Roy and Jason.

"All I did was give Arsenal a chance to talk to you," Jason informed him.

Dick stood up and stormed up to Jason. "You had no right! You're the one who decided I didn't want to see anyone and yet you teamed up with Roy to corner me?"

Jason straightened up, using his height advantage to stare Dick down. "Of course I did. You can't be this dense, Grayson. Bruce's golden boy, switching sides?" Jason let loose a laugh. "Ha! Unlikely! And if it is true," Jason leaned right into Dick's space. "You understand that we're going to be curious."

Dick punched him in the gut. Pain shot through Jason and he stumbled back. Pain shot up his body and he forced himself to straighten up to glare at Dick.

Dick twirled out of the way as Roy jumped in. Jason rushed at Dick. He caught the acrobat off-guard and they tumbled into the grass. Dick kicked his knee up, his attack missing as Jason rolled to the side and to his feet.

* * *

Jason grabbed him by the shoulder as they stood up, ready to throw a punch into Dick's nose.

Dick twisted out of his grip and moved around behind him. Jason sprung up and Dick's kick just missed him.

"You-!" Jason growled, springing around and punching Dick in the nose. Dick moved with the punch so his nose wasn't broken. However, blood started pouring from it. Dick stared at his blood stained hand for a moment before bringing his attention back to Jason.

Dick was having trouble breathing. Jason grinned at the sight, not that Dick could see that behind his hood.

"Um, this probably wasn't a good idea," Arsenal pointed out, having pulled back.

"Shut up Arsenal!" they shouted in unison.

"How about you share what's going on in your pretty little head?" Jason growled at Dick.

Dick snarled. "How about you respect my privacy and stop asking?"

"How about… no?" Jason said, although it wasn't a question. He dropped down and kicked Dick off his feet.

Ever graceful, Dick fell back onto his hands and changed his fall into a flip. Jason rushed forward and shoved him to the ground as Dick landed on his feet.

This time, when the tumbled onto the ground, Dick didn't kick up. He coughed and wheezed a little, blood staining his lips and chin as it dripped from his nose into his mouth.

"Is this how you treat all your partners?" Dick questioned tiredly.

"We're not partners," Jason reminded him. "I'm your boss. You follow my orders. My whims. Don't you dare forget that!"

"Whatever," Dick responded like he was the younger one and not Jason. Jason shoved his shoulder back against the ground as Dick tried to get up.

"Not done speaking, Dick," he said. "You'll follow my orders or I'll drop you off at the Batcave with a note about all the criminals you're watching others kill." That thought sent a flash of anger through Jason. He killed so that others wouldn't have to. But Dick... "I'm a 'bad' person because I don't manipulate other people into killing for me. I do my own dirty work."

Jason ignored Dick's flinch as he climbed off. Having said his peace, he felt slightly better. He turned to Roy, who was standing with a shocked expression on his face.

"Got something to say, Arrow-boy?"

It took Roy a moment to snap out of it. He shook his head, giving Dick an apologetic look. Dick had sat up and was holding a hand to his nose, attempting to stop the bleeding.

"Is he always like this?" he asked.

"Like what?" Dick questioned.

Roy stared at Dick and motioned at his face. "Punchy?" he suggested as an adjective.

Dick blinked, a couple of tears still making their way down his cheeks in reaction to the punch to the nose.

"Hey!" Jason growled. "He started it! He attacked you first!"

"Technically, Arsenal jumped on me first," Dick pointed out, wobbling to his feet. "That could be considered an attack."

"No way. That's trying to talk to my friend who keeps ignoring me," Roy countered. "But, seriously man, that looks bad."

"It's fine," Dick responded with a shrug, even as blood dripped down onto the grass. His lower face was stained in various shades of red smear.

"Arrow-head's right," Jason said, feeling a slight pang of guilt. Most of his opponents didn't get up and walk around while bloody and he found it hurt to watch someone move around in pain because of his actions.

"It's fine," Dick insisted. "I'll see you back at the safe house."

Jason watched Dick walk off. It wasn't until he heard the bike rev that he snapped out of it.

* * *

"Hold on!" he cried, too late as the bike roared away. How was he supposed to get back? "Dick!" Jason wasn't sure if he was shouting Dick's name or insulting him. Also, he was glad that Roy already knew who Nightwing/Renegade was and that Jason wasn't responsible for outing Dick's identity.

"I think he just managed to escape our interrogation," Roy sighed.

Jason agreed, although he was a little disturbed by how Dick seemed completely nonchalant about his nose pouring blood. Jason knew from experience that Dick's face was probably stinging and he would probably have a headache from sinus trouble caused by the punch. Dick thought that was 'fine'. He didn't seem to have any reaction beyond noticing the blood. His voice was a little nasally but he didn't spit out the blood in his mouth, he didn't give any indication of pain and his expression when he looked at the blood was blank. No surprise or shock or even a wince. Not even a playful 'ouch, that's a lot of blood' wince.

"Hey, are you sure this is about Blockbuster?" Jason asked Roy.

Roy shrugged. "Who else could it be? Blockbuster attacked his life."

And what kind of effect might that have had? "And there wasn't anyone with him?"

Roy shrugged again. "He kind of pushed everyone away. Like he was afraid of us getting caught in the crossfire as well. Although, I guess there was that chick."

"What chick?"

"Cat-a-something something. I don't know. Oracle mentioned her. Told me to just see if he's still involved with her."

"Involved?" Jason snorted.

Roy didn't laugh. "Apparently, Nightwing broke up with Oracle to be with her."

Jason was shocked. Not at the news that Dick and Babs had been dating; that was just a 'about time' kind of thing. Plus annoying. He didn't really have to imagine what the couple had been like; he knew them both. They would have been that one annoying couple who flirted and were just so sweet on each other that it would rot your teeth.

"They broke up?" he questioned quietly.

"Yep," Roy responded.

"Can you get me information on this girl?" Jason requested.

"I guess?" Roy said, giving him a suspicious and curious look. Jason pretended he didn't see it. He didn't care about whatever Roy suspected about him.


	7. Part 7 – Taking on Jobs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: This is a kind of set up chapter between the previous and the next (the next chapter has all the fun). No one's happy but no one wants to talk (and by 'no one', I mean Jason and Dick).

 

**Part 7 – Taking on Jobs**

Jason had plenty of time to think on his way back to the safe house. Roy would need some time to look into Blockbuster's death and there was no way Jason was going to spend that time sitting around doing nothing. He was feeling an itch, a need to go out and do something. Plus, it would probably be better for Dick if he wasn't in a place that kept reminding him of Blockbuster, even if it was only for a while.

Jason threw open the door of the safe house. He had his plan of attack. A quick scan of the main room revealed it to be empty so Jason stormed towards the room Dick had been using.

Dick was lying on the bed when he opened the door, face in his pillow. Jason pulled out a travel bag from the wardrobe and dropped it onto the bed next to Dick's head.

"You have fifteen minutes to pack."

Dick's head turned and Jason got a look at a single blue eye. "What?"

"We're goin' to Metropolis. Luthor's put a job out. Remember?"

Dick sat up and Jason winced at the skin starting to go dark around his nose and eyes. At least the bleeding had stopped.

"You're thinking about taking it?"

"Not just thinking. We're flying out and you're going to use that charm of yours to get us the job."

"You're not worried it's a trap or something?"

"Are you?"

Dick shook his head, wincing a little as the movement caused him pain. "I know Deathstroke wouldn't send us into a trap. He doesn't need to."

"You're still going to keep your eyes out for one, aren't you?" Jason said, already knowing the answer. They had both been trained by the same paranoid bat. Jason wasn't going to relax and neither was Dick. "Fifteen minutes. Pack."

Dick nodded and slowly moved to grab clothes. Fifteen minutes later, he was ready to go.

* * *

Jason was nervous about this. They had scouted out the building where Luthor arranged to meet them but something could still go wrong.

"It'll be fine," Dick reminded him, reaching out and pressing against Jason's hand. Jason hadn't noticed that he had been violently tapping his finger against his thigh in impatience. He nodded and took a deep breath. They were on a rooftop so it would be impossible to be cornered, especially with Grayson by his side.

Luthor appeared five minutes before the time they had agreed to meet and he didn't seem surprised to see Red Hood and Renegade waiting.

"Nice to finally meet you," Luthor said smoothly as he held out a hand to Jason. Jason shook it. Luthor looked over at Renegade and Dick nodded his head in greeting. "I heard you had a new guard."

"He works closely with me," Jason informed him.

"Ah. Loyal then?"

Jason snorted in response. "He doesn't need to be. He just needs to do as he's told and remember that I shoot him if he doesn't."

Luthor looked surprised for a moment as he looked between the two costumed criminals standing on the rooftop. Then he grinned thinly.

"And Deathstroke has the opinion that you can't control him."

"Do you have a job for us or not?" Jason questioned. Annoyance laced his words, letting Luthor know that he wasn't in the mood.

"Security," Luthor responded. He pulled out a card with a place and date printed on it. "I'm having a little get-together for some associates of mine. Deathstroke was supposed to attend however, there's been an issue with his apprentice." Luthor let his displeasure show as he said that. A glance at Dick had Jason picking up the hidden threat. _'You better not back out because of your partner,'_ seemed to hum in the air between them.

"I think you'll find that we're both fully trained professionals," Dick soothingly said as he stepped forward and plucked the card from Luthor's hands. "Are we attending or working at this party?"

Luthor looked surprised for a moment. Jason didn't react at all. "You'll be the internal security. Attend the party like guests and remove anyone who doesn't belong there," Luthor explained.

"Like Superman?" Dick questioned in a joking tone.

"I'm concerned about that reporter woman, Lois Lane from the Daily Planet," Luthor informed them, "if you want to take on Superman, feel free however, I will deny any knowledge of your attendance at my event if you lose."

"I think we can handle one alien playing dress up," Jason said, turning back to nod at Dick. It was time to leave.

Dick nodded back and walked over to the edge of the building. He glanced back at Jason, to make sure he was following, before jumping off the ledge.

Jason grinned as he followed Dick off the edge of the building. They managed to ditch Luthor's eyes around the first block.

No wonder Luthor needed to outsource his security.

* * *

The room was a simple stage with chairs placed before it. Jason was confused only for a moment before it clicked.

This was an auction. No wonder Luthor required extra security. It would be damaging to his reputation if someone managed to take off with something without paying.

"Red Hood," Luthor greeted him with a smile. "And Renegade."

Renegade politely bowed his head. Red Hood shook Luthor's hand.

"What do you need us to do?" Jason asked.

Luthor outlined their jobs, which were about what was expected. Until the end, "of course, if Renegade would like to replace the auctioneer, he is welcome to."

"What?" Jason questioned as Dick froze like a deer in the headlights. They had already agreed that Jason would do most of the talking. Luthor seemed to like seeing Red Hood in charge of Renegade. It made sense since Renegade was unknown but Red Hood had made a name for himself.

"Deathstroke informed me that Renegade could work a stage."

"You brought us in as guards," Jason reminded the man.

"Indeed I did. Next time maybe."

"Next time," Jason repeated. He hoped there wouldn't be a next time. He much preferred stealing from guys like Luthor and blowing holes in their plans.

* * *

Dick and Jason both noticed the moment Talia Al Ghul walked in. She spotted them as well.

Dick's hand went to the escrima stick holstered at his side. Jason's hand tightened into a fist. Things were complicated with Talia, especially since she was attempting to build a group stronger than her father's League of Assassins without a care for anyone who might get in her way.

"I didn't expect this," Talia commented smoothly. "Red Hood, it has been a while. Who's your new friend?"

"He's Renegade," Jason said shortly.

"Renegade," Talia greeted Dick with a thin smile. "Does Batman know the kind of company you're keeping these days?"

"None of your business," Dick shot back in a growl. "I currently have no association with him."

Jason was not surprised to hear those words out of Dick's mouth. He had already assumed as much because of what Arsenal had said. He didn't know what to make of it.

Talia didn't look convinced but she shrugged and walked away with the final comment of, "see you at the auction boys."

* * *

The first part of the auction progressed as expected. Items were brought up and auctioned off and Jason took mental notes of who bought what. For example, some guy calling himself Calculator bought a powerful next-gen processor; obviously stolen from STAR Labs.

When the first part ended, Jason got to work. Those gathered were moved into another room where food and drinks were being served.

Dick appeared at his side moments after Jason took a glass of champagne.

"You know, we're supposed to be working," Dick commented. After a quick pause, he added, "and just how do you plan to drink that anyway?"

The bottom of the hood could be removed for eating and drinking but Jason wasn't going to tell Dick that. Jason was content to let the older man sweat over the conundrum.

"I'm more approachable with a glass in my hand," Jason reminded him. He held out his other hand to Dick. "Did you get the info?"

Dick passed him a piece of paper. "All the auction items for the next session are written down."

"Good," Jason hummed. Now it was time to cause some discontent to around him.


	8. Part 8 – Rumours and Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: This was hard to coordinate. Just the mechanics of what Dick and Jason do in the first part of this chapter were difficult to put into words. I made an attempt? (a few actually - this is just the final one). Next chapter should be the stuff I know some people have been waiting for (the emotional hurt).

 

**Part 8 – Rumours and Truth**

* * *

Jason moved through the hall set aside for the intermission, chatting with those gathered. Never longer than a few minutes, enough time to exchange some pleasantries and spread some seeds of doubt. Questions about who Luthor would bring in next, about why Bane didn't join and what he might know that the members don't, about Kryptonite and why Luthor was hoarding it, questions about- "You know, it's good that Luthor hired the extra security," Jason heard another guest say to Dick. "After that robbery of serum."

"Someone was showing off," Dick agreed quietly.

The guest hummed in agreement.

Dick smiled pleasantly. "That's why we're here. Of course, I do believe we're only lending our skills for this night."

Worry showed on their face even as Dick walked away.

"Did you just get them to doubt everything without saying it outright?" Jason questioned in surprise. Because he could see the guest whispering to someone else, someone who was nodding and looking slightly frustrated. It was beautiful. Plus, Dick's comments could be explained as him attempting to sell their services as security, after all, they were only working _this night._

"Luthor is smarter than this," Talia said in a disappointed tone. "He'll figure out that you two are behind this."

"What is this?" Dick questioned with fake innocence. "We are just making small talk. Perhaps also gathering a feel for those who might secretly be Luthor's enemies."

Talia huffed. "You had better not be including me in that list."

"Nope. You're only interested in power. As long as Luthor can sell you that fantasy, then you'll be here." Talia's face went a strange pink shade. Jason looked at Dick, his jaw dropping, once again glad for the hood that hid the motion. "But, I don't see the likes of your father here. He doesn't need to rely on morally corrupt billionaires, does he?"

Talia looked outraged. Jason was grinning even as she turned that outrage towards him.

"Nothing he said is technically false," Jason mused. "You like power, Luthor has power and I don't see Ra's here."

Talia turned on her heel and walked off. They had probably made an enemy out of her and while Jason found that sad as he didn't mind Talia, all was fair in love and war. Or in vigilantes and criminals.

Jason was a 'whatever it took' kind of guy.

* * *

News that Talia had stormed out quickly spread. It was not helped by Jason's and Dick's implications that maybe she discovered something that made being associated with Luthor a bad choice. After all, why hadn't Bane refused to join? Where was Deathstroke?

Whispers travelled through the crowd.

Jason had to take down the first person who took an angry swing at another.

"Sorry, orders," he said in an uncaring tone as he tossed the person out. Just as planned, whispers quietened but did not stop.

* * *

People were not happy. Jason had not been hired to stop anyone from leaving but he did pay attention to those that did. It looked like Luthor was losing support which served their purposes well.

The night was about to wrap up when there was a crash from outside. One of the other security members came rushing in.

"Superman!" he cried out in panic. "He's here! Superman!"

Jason's head snapped up and his hands went for his guns. A glance over at Dick saw that his partner had his escrima sticks already in hand.

"That's my cue," Luthor said, packing up and getting out.

"You want to follow him?" Jason asked Dick. Because if Renegade couldn't handle fighting against Superman because of old allegiances then Jason didn't want him here.

Dick shook his head.

There was a crash as the wall came down and Superman stepped in. His red cape swished behind him as he walked forward, stopping only as he scanned the room and took note of the two people standing defiantly before him.

"Yo," Dick greeted the man-of-steel calmly. Jason couldn't help letting out an amused snort. It was very like the older man to stand there and calmly greet someone who could pound him to dust without effort.

"Nightwing. Good to see you. Or so I would normally say."

"It's Renegade now," Jason corrected, stepping forward.

"Red Hood," Superman seemed confused. He turned from Jason to Dick. "And... Renegade? So the rumours are true? Are you a... 'bad guy' now?"

"I can't believe we're all grown men and can't come up with better descriptive words than 'bad guy'," Jason mused out loud.

"Hood!" Dick hissed at him in warning, although Jason could hear the amusement in his tone. Then he turned to Superman. "Sorry, but... yeah. Red Hood made me an offer and I accepted."

"I've heard about Red Hood." Superman glared at him. Jason didn't like Superman. Jason didn't like Superman, who had rubbed him the wrong way even back when he had been Robin. Wonder Woman was better. "And his offers." Jason hoped Bruce told Superman about some of his actions upon returning to Gotham. Dick didn't back down as Superman turned back to him. "Have you really turned your back on everything you believed? Everything you were taught?"

"Believe whatever you want."

"Then I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you in."

Superman moved forward and Jason grabbed at the personally-designed smoke grenade he had brought and tossed it between Dick and Superman.

He had enough time to see Dick's shocked expression before the room filled with gas.

* * *

"Please tell me that isn't deadly," Dick muttered as they made their way out of the room by one of the many exits. Specifically, the hole in the wall a certain hero made on his way in.

"Nah, it'll just mess with his vision," Jason responded with good cheer in his voice. "And make it difficult for him to know which way we went."

"We're not going to fight him?" Dick questioned, surprise making his voice sound young.

Jason laughed. Dick was really crazy, wasn't he? "That's Superman, Renegade. As in 'leap tall buildings in a single bound, stop bullets with his chest,' I'm not going to fight him unless I have to."

"Don't have any Kryptonite?" Dick joked.

"I'm a criminal, in Metropolis," Jason responded in disbelief. "Of course I have Kryptonite. That doesn't mean I'm going to use it on the guy. You probably have Kryptonite on you as well! Why don't you use it?" Jason just said it because he was frustrated and turning questions back on people was always a good fall-back plan. Therefore, it actually surprised him when Dick spluttered in shock.

"It's-! I-! Curse you," Dick grumbled.

"No way. You actually have Kryptonite on you? How?"

"I found your stash," Dick admitted, slightly embarrassed. "And, like you said, it's Metropolis."

Jason laughed out loud. They really made quite the pair. Either of them could have taken Superman but they both ran. Dick seemed embarrassed for the first few moments before he grinned and chuckled as well.

They reached the abandoned building they had been squatting in while in Metropolis and broke in via the roof.

Jason cursed as he entered the room they were camping in. "I should have shot him a few times."

Dick raised an eyebrow as he pulled off his cowl. "Really? It wouldn't have done anything."

"It wouldn't have done anything but, it would have been soothing."

Dick was silent for a moment. "From you, he probably deserves it," he muttered before yawning. The comment threw Jason for a moment; he thought that Dick loved Superman. "Are you taking first watch, Little Wing?"

Jason frowned at the nickname. "Fine. Whatever. Go sleep, you lazy tag-along."

"Yay," Dick responded sarcastically, pulling off the rest of this uniform and changing into pants and a shirt to sleep in. After storing his uniform in his bag, Dick curled up on the ground with a blanket and drifted off.


	9. Part 9 – Unexpected Answers

**Part 9 – Unexpected Answers**

* * *

 

The fasten seatbelt sign went out and Jason relaxed. Beside him, Dick was sitting with a bored frown on his face.

"Since we have some time, you want to tell me about that girl you cheated on Babs with?" Jason said. He figured it would be best to bring this up on the flight back to Gotham where Dick couldn't give him the run around.

Dick stiffened for a few moments before sighing and sinking a little in his seat. "I just don't know what I did."

Jason was tempted to punch Dick however he was too angry to react. Surely Dick could figure it out? Having a girlfriend a city; one for Gotham and one for Bludhaven, was asking for trouble. Neither of the girls deserved to be lied to and Babs especially didn't deserve to be hurt like that.

By chance, his silence gave Dick a chance to gather his thoughts and his next words gave Jason a chill which hardened his fiery anger to a cold lump in his gut.

"I just don't understand. What signals was I giving off?"

'Signals?' It was a strange way to describe a relationship and Jason hated that it rang alarm bells in his head. When Dick shifted nervously, Jason realised he was going to get up. The moment he left the seat, Jason stood up and shoved him back down onto it.

"No way," he growled, holding Dick down. In the tight space of the row, Jason was leaning over him as he held Dick's arms down and placed a knee atop his leg to press him to the seat. The back of the seat behind him helped keep him in place, making it difficult for Dick to shove him off. "You're not going anywhere. What do you mean 'signals'?"

"I-I didn't... I don't know what they were." Dick swallowed. "Catalina followed me. She was putting herself in danger. She just... she just wanted to help. I refused but she was going to get herself killed and I couldn't let that happen so I started helping her but I must have given her the wrong idea at some point because she started acting like we were dating." Dick's voice was a quiet whisper, despite the frantic undercurrent of emotion which made it hoarse. "I-I didn't mean to. Jason, what did I do? She took kisses, started turning up everywhere, she was planning this bright future for us but I couldn't... I tried. I really tried. I told her about Babs but then Babs and I broke up. I messed up. Barbara didn't deserve that and Catalina, she should have left me. Left me alone like I deserved. But she didn't. She stayed with me and I must have really wanted it because she didn't stop even when I..." Dick trailed off, curling up as much as he could in the seat. It wasn't much, since Jason was still holding him down. His head dropped to his chest and he rocked forward as much as he could. He took a shuddering breath and that's when Jason noticed the subtle tremors through Dick's body. As well as the clammy chill against his chest where Dick's forehead was resting.

"Dick?" he questioned, terror surging through him. He couldn't process this and Dick was shutting down.

"Dick?" he repeated. Nothing. He moved his hands from Dick's arms, waiting a moment to see if he would react. Nothing. One hand went under Dick's chin angling his face up a little so Jason would have access.

His other hand slapped Dick across the face. Jason ignored the people who glanced towards them and the looks he was getting.

"Sir?" Jason looked up to see a flight attendant standing there with a frown on her face. She looked disapproving and worried.

"He's-" Jason winced at the tremor in his voice. A calming breath later, he spun a tale, "he's my brother and I think he's having a panic attack," not realising it he was speaking the truth until after the words left his mouth.

"I'll get some water," she said, quickly moving away.

"Jason?" Dick mumbled. Jason looked down to see bleary, half-open blue eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, Dick?" he said as casually as he could manage. Which was pretty casual and he was proud of that when he had been internally panicking just moments before.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Okay," Jason hummed, feeling a bit calmer. He didn't want to talk about it either. "Do you remember where we are?"

Dick paused for a moment to think. "On a plane. Heading to Gotham."

Relieved that the worst seemed to be over, Jason slid off Dick and back into his seat. The flight attendant returned with a bottle of water and a damp cloth for Dick, who accepted them graciously.

* * *

"Just you and me," Dick muttered a little later.

"What?"

"That's what she said. It was me and her. And now I've left her alone."

"She'll be fine," Jason huffed. Catalina was probably hanging about in Bludhaven, wondering where Dick had gone to. Jason decided he needed to call Arsenal when they landed and get him to check out the streets around his safe house for her presence. The last thing he needed was that woman getting her hooks in Dick again.

Because, while Jason didn't want to think about what had happened between her and Dick, he sure knew it was messed up and that she was probably the source.

It was amazing how he had gone from wanting to punch Dick to wanting to guard him in one conversation.

"But, Jason-"

"If she had been hurt in any way, I'm sure Roy would have brought it up."

"Roy doesn't know her."

"But Oracle does. He's in contact with her," Jason pointed out. If Dick had been thinking straight, he would have realised that. "Have you been in contact with any of them?"

"No, Jason. I haven't sold us out," Dick said with a sarcastic roll of his eyes.

Jason needed to be more specific. "What about Catalina? Did she want you in contact with any of them?"

Dick gave him a confused look. "Why are you asking? I don't know. It was just me and her. I didn't want to risk getting in contact with anyone. I'm poisonous, Jason."

"You're what now?"

"Get close to me and you get hurt. Catalina wanted to be a hero and I turned her into a killer. Like you said, I just manipulate other people into killing for me. Maybe you should just dump me in Blackgate when we get to Gotham," Dick sighed. "Bruce wouldn't want me after I failed."

Jason hadn't expected to hurt so much just thinking about what Dick had been through. He remembered Dick as a strong, fiery adult who followed rules but also carved his own path. Dick might still be that and he has seen glimmers of it while fighting Roy and while in Metropolis, however there was something else. The best way Jason had of explaining it was that Dick, rather than being poison, had been poisoned.

"I don't think Bruce will care if you ended up watching people get killed," Jason countered, hoping to stop at least some of what Dick was going though. "Anyway, if you really care about what he thinks, just blame me. He already thinks the worst of me as is."

Dick looked shocked. "No way, Jay. I'm not blaming this on you. It's my fault, I'm the one who failed."

While nice to hear that Dick wouldn't just toss him aside for his own benefit, Jason considered that a backfire. He changed tactics. "Whatever. If Bruce dumps you in Blackgate, I'll bust you out."

"Jason, no. Not for me," Dick sounded horrified but Jason was on a roll. This was getting a different reaction. Besides, planning prison breakouts was fun.

"I'm sure I can get Roy to help me. And Oracle might help us too, if it's for you. Roy will be backup while I break locks and maybe blow up a wall or two and Oracle can get us a map and disable alarms. Or maybe we could dress up as guards and have some kind of transfer papers for you but instead we'll drive you out of the city to freedom."

"Jason," Dick whined with a grin. "No."

"Come on Dick. Don't tell me you've never planned a prison breakout before." Dick's silence was all the response he needed. "You have." He grinned widely. "Tell me how you'd to it."

Dick signed dramatically but did. They both exchanged plans, changing the circumstances and making it challenging like a game.


	10. Part 10 – Hanging out with Roy

**Part 10 – Hanging out with Roy**

* * *

_"I must have given her the wrong idea at some point…"_

_"She started acting like we were dating…"_

_"I messed up."_

_"It was me and her."_

_"She didn't stop even when I..."_

Dick's words on the flight back continued to bother Jason. He had heard variations of it all before. On the street, as Robin and as Red Hood.

As soon as he could, Jason went to get the information on Catalina. That Dick had said she didn't stop made him hope she was just a stalker.

"Please let her just be a stalker," Jason muttered as Roy placed the file on Catalina back on the table.

"What?"

Jason shook his head. Not yet. He couldn't voice this just yet. He was terrified. This was bringing up all his worst fears; could he even help or would he just make things worse? He had already wasted so much time with his obliviousness.

 _"Catalina wanted to be a hero and I turned her into a killer."_ Contrary to Dick's words, the files suggested that Catalina had been heading that way from the beginning. On her hunt for revenge, she had killed even before joining up with Nightwing.

"I can't believe Wing broke up with Oracle for this woman," Roy commented.

"He didn't," Jason automatically responded.

Roy's head snapped up. "What?"

"Or he didn't intend to," Jason continued. "She orchestrated it."

Roy stared at the file in disbelief. "She did?" Jason nodded. "But, how?"

"How do you think?" Jason responded in a snide tone.

Roy seemed baffled by that. He thought and thought and then shrugged. "I'd have to ask Oracle."

Before he could think about the consequences of his words, Jason snorted, "why don't we do that then?"

Roy's eyes widened behind his mask. "Who are you?" he questioned. "Oracle seems to have some kind of personal knowledge of you, she didn't want me to arrest you after all and is good at predicting your next move."

Jason didn't like the implication that he was predictable. Predicable was dangerous and would get him arrested.

"Are you asking because you're curious?" Jason questioned.

Roy nodded with a frown on his face like he was trying to rival Batman. Jason sighed and reached up, pulling off his hood. He didn't have to worry about the mask underneath it, if Roy couldn't guess who he was with it on then the archer didn't deserve to know.

Roy stared for a few moments, eyes squinting as he tried to put the pieces together. "...No way. You really are! Right?"

"I'm really what?" Jason grinned.

"Robin two-point-oh? Jay?"

"Yes." Jason leaned back smugly as Roy exploded in denials, claims that he was dead, stuff about how messed up Dick had been after hearing about said death, questions about how he came back, when he came back, why didn't he contact him, and so on.

Jason waited patiently. Roy's reaction and flood of language was a welcome distraction from the other thoughts floating around in his brain.

"Does Dick know?" Roy demanded. Jason nodded. "Oracle?" Jason shrugged, although it sounded like she might. "What about Batman?"

"Oh, yeah," Jason hummed, pleased.

Roy was still glaring. "That's so not fair. What are you doing with Dick anyway?"

"I told you, he put himself out there. He was both trying to get at the society of super villains or whatever they're calling themselves and trying to make Nightwing's role in Bludhaven completely redundant."

Roy was baffled. "Why would he do that? Dick loved being Nightwing. There's nothing else he-"

Jason tapped the file. "Why indeed."

Roy looked down then up at Jason. "You think she had something to do with it?"

"I think she didn't intend for it to happen, but she-" could he say it? Jason's mouth stalled for a moment. "-hurt him. Real bad."

"Real bad? But how?"

"I don't have all the facts. But, tell me what comes to mind when someone tells you that their partner didn't stop?"

"Did she beat him up?"

"Maybe," Jason sighed. It was almost a better scenario than the one his mind was concocting. He pulled out a statement he had written about everything Dick had let spill during the flight. Dick would probably be annoyed that Jason wrote it all out and was letting other people read it but, Jason couldn't do this by himself, as much as he wanted to.

An image of a body swinging from a looped rope haunted him as a warning of what could happen to Dick if there was a single misstep. If Jason's suspicions were right, he was going to put Catalina where she could never hurt his brother again.

Roy paled considerably as he read. "No way... not to him. This isn't... there has to be an explanation."

"No one was around when his life fell to pieces," Jason mused, "and I think Catalina is the reason why."It seemed he had convinced Roy to join his side for investigating this. "How about we ask Oracle for her side? A full account rather than pieces of news about their break-up?" Jason suggested.

Roy looked terrified. "How can I take this to her? Never mind that it's behind Dick's back; how am I supposed to tell her that this other woman probably used her to hurt him?"

* * *

Dick looked surprised to see Jason push the door open with his foot while he carried another body into the safe-house.

"What did you do?" he questioned as Jason waddled over to the couch and deposited Roy's limp body onto the couch.

Jason muttered something about Roy being a 'heavy' guy before he answered, "Harper can't hold his liquor."

The shocked look Dick gave him made sense to Jason. Jason could hardly believe it himself. It seemed Harper was an alright guy once you got him out of costume and a couple of drinks into him.

"I feel like I should ask but at the same time, I don't want to know." Dick brought Jason a glass of water. "How bad was he?"

Jason thought about that for a moment. "He wasn't that bad actually." Dick looked down at Roy with a sad expression. "Did you want to come drink with us, Dick?"

"Would have been nice," Dick muttered. Louder he said, "you could have invited me."

"I don't have your mobile number-"

"I don't have one. My last burned up."

"Then that's why I didn't invite you." At the sad and wistful expression on Dick's face, Jason found himself relenting his attitude just a little. "Maybe next time. After Roy wakes up."

"You really want to go drinking with him again?" Dick questioned in surprise.

Jason shrugged. "Why not?" Dick seemed baffled but didn't say anything. Jason stepped towards him. "Why not?" he repeated, determined to get a response. Did Dick think Jason was too bad or criminal to hang around his old friends?

"It's just... shouldn't we do what we're doing by ourselves?" Dick said nervously.

Jason had to think about what Dick was saying. "I'm not recruiting Roy." Not for Dick's plans with the society. "No way. No Arrow family members in this little pairing."

Dick glanced over at the snoozing red head. "But, you were with him."

"For drinks. Not work."

"And you're okay with me coming?"

"Of course. Why not?"

"Well, Catalina-" The name felt like a stab of clarity. Dick expected Jason to keep him away from his friends like Catalina had. As if Dick could sense Jason's sudden rush of anger towards the woman he mentioned, Dick clammed up. "You know what, drinks sounds alright."

* * *

Roy woke in a strange place he didn't recognise with voices he did recognise chatting in the background.

"Give me my cereal box, Dick," Jason was hissing. There was the rustling of something being moved. "Stop eating out of it like some kind of neanderthal! What would Alfred say if he could see you?"

"He can't see me," Dick responded. "I'm a grown adult, Jay, and I'll eat my breakfast however I want."

Roy groaned as the pounding of his head reminded him of why he was here, wherever 'here' was. That's when Jason realised he was awake.

"Dick," Roy groaned, his voice grating throughout the room. "Just give Jason the cereal and both of you, just let me sleep!"

"Wow, grumpy," Jason commented like the hypocrite he was. "Did you sleep well, drunken prince?"

"What?" Roy grumbled. "I'm not a prince."

Jason sighed and waved him off. "Don't worry about it."

"Cereal?" Dick asked, holding out the box to Roy.

"Sleep," Roy countered in a moan as his ears rang.

"Should we keep him awake?" Dick asked Jason and Roy moaned as pots clattered from the kitchenette where the two were standing.

"Let him sleep a little longer," Jason said.

Roy closed his eyes, only to be woken by the banging of pots and pans around two hours later.


	11. Part 11 – Gotham and the Clocktower

******Part 11 – Gotham and the Clocktower**

* * *

Dick shifted nervously on the ledge. His constant movements were making Jason nervous, even though he knew Dick

"You can handle this," Jason snapped at him.

Dick glared back at him. "You still haven't told me what you're going to be doing."

"I'm going to Gotham to gather some info. When I came to Bludhaven I left my information guys in the lurch. I need to remind them that they still need to pay up; information or body parts," Jason said.

"And you need to take Roy?"

"More like, I want to kind of shove Roy back where he came from. You know Oracle sent him."

Dick nodded. He did know that. Roy hadn't been able to hide it very well. He still looked pale, either because of Jason's earlier mention of body parts or from the idea of Oracle.

Dick bounced on the balls of his feet, ready to go. "Alright, I guess I'll have to steal the gun shipment from the society that you want all by myself. What are you even going to do with all those guns?"

"I have no idea. But, better in my hands than theirs."

"You could give them to Batman," Roy suggested, reminding them that he was standing there and also was itching to leave.

Jason and Dick shared a look, both imagining Bruce Wayne opening the door to a couple of crates filled with guns.

"I think that'll give him a heart attack," Dick mused, "and he'll spend ages trying to track us down."

Jason snorted and pointed out, "like he isn't already?"

They had a quick laugh about the idea of leaving Bruce guns as a 'gift' before Dick jumped off the building to go intercept the shipment.

"You sure you want to do this?" Roy asked Jason.

"Let's just get it over with before I change my mind."

* * *

The clocktower where Oracle resided was situated high above the buildings around it. Jason and Roy entered silently. Jason had to hold the archer back at a few points, silently indicating little trips and traps set up. He was interested to see that Oracle had both cameras and technology as well as tripwires.

Roy almost triggered a tripwire more than once.

The moment he entered the room, Jason's eyes were drawn from the monitors to the wheelchair.

"Have you installed rockets in that yet?" he questioned.

As soon as he spoke, the chair whipped around. Barbara's glasses hid her eyes as she pulled out an escrima stick and pointed it at them.

"Arsenal. Why did you bring him here?"

"Gosh, I feel so wanted," Jason quipped, taking a step forward. In comparison, Roy took a step back.

"What are you doing here, Red Hood?"

"I need something from you." He was determined to keep it short and simple. In and out.

"What's that?"

"You're going to write down a statement about what happened the night you broke up with Dick. As much as you can remember and maybe even events leading up to it."

"What?" She was angry. "Why would you want that?"

"Barbara, it's important," Roy said, trying to calm her. He was unsuccessful.

"It's also private. What happened between me and Dick should stay between me and Dick."

"It can't," Jason stated. "But before I tell you anything else, I need your statement." Barbara frowned, uncertain of what was going on. One of the last people she expected to be in her clocktower was the Red Hood. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important."

Roy nodded quickly in the background. Barbara considered him for a moment before turning to Jason.

It felt like a very long time before she spoke. "Take the hood off and I'll give you my 'statement'."

Jason didn't give himself time to think about it. His hands reached up and he pulled it off, ignoring Barbara's sharp intake of breath as his face was revealed. He was wearing his regular domino mask underneath anyway and he tried not to think about what she was expecting to see.

A Robin long dead.

"I want your statement in writing," he stated.

Barbara nodded. "I'll do it now. Just sit and wait."

"No. Give it to Roy and he'll bring it to me. I'm leaving." Jason turned to the nearest window, ignoring the shocked cry of 'Jason' from Barbara behind him.

Jason rolled his eyes as he heard Roy apologise and say something about him being 'grumpy'.

* * *

Dick was grinning ear to ear as Jason walked into the pre-approved warehouse they had acquired. Scattered around were crates, presumably holding weapons.

"I got them!" he announced cheerily.

Jason made a disgusted face. He didn't need happy-Grayson right now. Unfortunately, because his hood was still off and in his hands, Dick could see his expression.

Dick's smile fell. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked.

Jason just walked past him and started checking the crates. It seemed like the information had panned out and all the weapons were there.

"Red Hood?" Dick questioned. "Is everything okay? I did get everything, right? Is it the talking? Sorry." Jason turned to say that it was kind of annoying when Dick added, "Catalina told me that my constant preaching was unnecessary."

Jason thought that was kind of unfair. Now he couldn't tell Dick to shut up without feeling like that woman. "Don't compare me to her," he growled.

Dick's back straightened like a person being given an order. "Sorry."

Jason huffed out a long, annoyed breath. "It's just Gotham, okay?" The worst part was that, even though he was telling the truth, he could still see the seed of doubt in Dick's expression. "Okay, I'll be more specific. It's the Bat. Sometimes it feels like I can't escape him."

"Did you see him?" Dick asked in a worried tone.

Jason shook his head. "No. But I did have a little run-in with Oracle."

"You okay?"

Jason snorted at the way Dick started subtly looking for injuries. "I'm fine. Come on, tell me how you got this stuff."

Jason quickly learnt how to tune out the sound of Dick's voice as he spoke on and on about how he pulled off the heist. It was mostly facts and odd little observations and Jason noticed how Dick wasn't telling the story about how he managed to get one over on the society but more like reporting about the bad night the guys guarding this loot had.

Dick's self-confidence was about as rock-bottom as the rest of his life and he was hiding it like a pro, with a grin and showmanship.

Sometimes it sucked having an acrobat born to be in the centre stage as a brother. Said acrobat was always using that skill to hide his own injured feelings.

* * *

Roy snuck in early in the morning, when Jason was making himself something for breakfast but Dick was still snoozing away.

"I have Barbara's statement right here," he said, waving an envelope. Jason snatched it from his hands and pulled it out.

Jason liked Barbara. There was a kind of kinship there, even before he had died. It had only been made stronger by how they had both had something taken violently by the Joker. Despite that kinship, Jason was annoyed by Barbara's actions towards Dick. Obviously, Barbara had thought that Dick had been cheating on her however Jason wondered if she had ever talked to Dick about the kiss. The statement contained facts and Barbara had been careful to leave any of her feelings out of it, noticeable by the missing pieces.

It didn't matter. Jason didn't need to know how betrayed Babs felt or how devastated Dick probably was. All Jason needed to know was who had been in control of the whole encounter.

It certainly wasn't Dick, whose relationship with Babs had been destroyed in a moment.

The statement made it clear that it wasn't Barbara, who had tried to regain control of the situation by dumping Dick. However, not contacting him again showed that she wasn't in control over the situation at all.

Catalina had been the one to appear in the restaurant. She had been the one to instigate the break up by causing a scene and she had been the one left with Dick when all the dust had settled. The whole thing screamed planning on Catalina's part.

She had cut Dick off from his friends and family. She had forced him into a relationship and undermined his sense of worth.

"So," Roy said, nervously rubbing at his hand. "What's the verdict?"

"She's certainly abusive and emotionally manipulative," Jason said of Catalina. His voice was hard and Roy shivered at the sound of it.

"Are we going to take her out?"

"What's this 'we'? Stay out of this you hero archer." Jason pulled out his gun. "I'm going to take care of this my way." He didn't want an answer to his other suspicion. This was enough. He didn't think he could handle any more.

Roy darted forward, clearing the space between them in a moment. "Wait! Can we at least let Barbara know that Dick didn't cheat on her and how Catalina's plan to break them up succeeded? She tried to make me spill the secret while writing the statement and she kind of deserves to know."

"Are you going to tell her?" Jason demanded to know. "Because I haven't the faintest clue how to even breech the subject."

"We have to find a way," Roy insisted. "And we should probably let Dick know that we know."

"Not until we've dealt with her." The way Jason said 'her' made it clear that he was talking about Catalina.

To his surprise, Roy agreed. "Oh yeah. There's no way Dick'll let us deal with her if he knew."


	12. Part 12 – Tarantula

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On my tumblr, I [reblogged a bunch of questions for fanfic writers to answer](http://quinquinis.tumblr.com/post/152444835975/asks-for-fanfic-writers). If anyone is interested in getting answers to questions like 'favourite pairing to write' or 'do you plan or do you write whatever comes to your mind?' (some people might already know the answer to that one) [head over and put a number or question in the ask box](http://quinquinis.tumblr.com/ask) (I'm Quinquinis on there).

**Part 12 – Tarantula**

* * *

Jason was glad that Roy didn't want to travel back to Gotham unless they had to. Contacting Oracle was simple enough as long as they had a computer however, this one also had a webcam installed.

"Do we really want her to be able to see us?" Jason grumbled as they sat down in front of a computer at the library.

"Stop complaining," Roy said. "We'll be lucky if she doesn't freeze our accounts-"

"Your accounts," Jason interrupted.

"Because we kept her out of the loop for as long as we did- What do you mean my accounts?"

"I have a number of secure bank accounts and I bet that she can't find them all. I did get them with her in mind."

Roy looked at him in shock. "You Bats are insane."

"I'm not a Bat," Jason growled quietly at Roy, wanting to yell that at him but mindful of their secret identities and the public setting.

"Sure," Roy agreed. Jason decided to ignore the muttered and sarcastic, "whatever you say. Just as terrifying as Bats though," since he couldn't decide if he should feel flattered or not.

* * *

Jason had the computer pinging Oracle's and the screen going blank as she hacked in.

"I didn't think I would be hearing from you again." Jason decided to believe that was sarcastic and ignored the worried tone in her voice.

"Yeah, well, Harper figured you decided to know what's going on. We probably made you curious."

"I can't deny that. So, tell me, why are you looking into my private life?"

Jason rolled his shoulders in annoyance. "Not your private life. Dick's."

"If you think you can control him through me then you're mistaken," Oracle threatened, voice crackling with computer effects. There was no hint of worry in her voice now.

Jason grinned threateningly back. "Hey now, he joined me. But that's not what this is about."

"What is it about?"

"Catalina. The woman who kissed him in front of you." Jason was certain he could feel the spite through the screen. "We have reason to believe she hurt Dick."

Oracle was silent as she tried to figure out what to say in response. "Dick's a big boy. He can deal with it."

"I don't think he can," Jason snapped back. "He proved that when he let Catalina break you two up, even after refusing to date her."

"What?"

"He didn't cheat on you and Catalina planned it all," Roy summed up, helpfully.

"But, why? Why would she do that?"

"That's a question for a psychologist, not me. I'm going to say that she's crazy and focused on him. And he's probably too much of a good guy-"

"Actually, I think his self-worth is probably almost non-existent," Roy mused and then flinched as he felt two sets of eyes stare at him. Yes, he could feel Oracle's stare through the screen.

"Ah..." Jason started, ready to automatically deny that because Dick was the Golden Boy and Jason didn't call him that for nothing, the man practically shone confidence. But, Jason had been spending more time with Dick now than he could remember ever doing and he was starting to see through the act. The little times the smile dropped or the way he analysed Jason's movements even around the safe house after a tense night, like he expected Jason to explode at him. "Yeah. You're right."

It made Jason's heart twist when once it might have made him angry. Like back when Jason would have assumed Dick thought him dangerous because of Jason's actions. Now he knew it was because of Dick's own feelings and the way he needed to be praised and to feel useful instead of the worthless feeling he was probably carrying around.

Admission time. And this admission would be easier than admitting what had probably pushed Dick this far. "He's adjusting his behaviour into something he thinks will make me happy. Something that will make me accept him."

"Are you certain?" Oracle said.

Jason sighed. "Yeah. He still wants to take down the society and he's the kind of guy who can find a way to do that while being a 'bad guy' but, he's working that goal in a way which allows him to please me. I assume, if he went with Deathstroke, he would have played the role in a way which would have pleased him." The reason Dick picked Deathstroke was probably because he could act out. Deathstroke would have expected him to fight back and would enjoy watching Dick fight against him even while working for him.

It was just his luck that he got Jason instead. It made Jason determined to do the right thing by Dick. And Nightwing.

"That's not creepy at all," Roy muttered with a shiver.

"He's doing what he thinks he needs to do," Oracle said in a sad tone.

Jason didn't really care about that. He couldn't change what Dick thought but he could do something to make Dick safer. "And so are we. We're going to track down Catalina."

* * *

As expected, Oracle questioned what Jason was going to do when he found her. Jason had to admit, he had no idea. Shooting her was the best idea but he knew Dick wouldn't like that.

Oracle insisted that if Jason was going to go after Catalina, then he was going to take Roy with him. Jason agreed to that for two reasons.

Firstly, it would keep her off his back and allow him access to Oracle's information network which could find almost anyone, anywhere. Secondly, if he couldn't kill one abuser with an Arrow tagging along, then he should hang up his hood because his skills were slipping.

The only frustrating part was that Catalina's last known location was in Gotham.

"Why is it always Gotham?" Roy whined, not for the first time, on the train over there.

"If you don't shut your gob, then I'm going to make you travel the way Nightwing travels," Jason threatened.

Roy looked confused. Jason pointed to the roof.

"Seriously?"

"Blindfolded too." Jason gave Roy a savage grin. He was kind of hoping Roy would keep whining, then he could take him up atop the train. Train surfing was thrilling when you could see and could be horrifying when you couldn't.

Roy closed his mouth and seemed determined to not say another word.

* * *

Despite the fun moment on the train, messing with Roy, Jason's night went downhill. They found Catalina hanging around some abandoned buildings in costume.

"Are you Tarantula?" Roy questioned. He had decided to do all the talking for them since Jason's 'people skills' were apparently too harsh for this.

Jason thought his people skills were just what Catalina needed.

The orange colour to her Tarantula costume made him feel like throwing up.

"Oh? Who are you, Arrow Boy?" she questioned with a grin between snide and lusty.

"It's Arsenal," Roy corrected.

"And your friend?"

"Red Hood." Jason had to bite his tongue to keep from saying anything more.

Tarantula hummed thoughtfully, twirling a knife in her hand. "I've heard about you. You're a criminal. Why hadn't Batman hunted you down yet?"

Jason grinned under the hood. It was too bad for Roy but it looked like Tarantula was adamant in having him join in the conversation.

"I'm just that good." He stepped towards her. "I'm here about what you did to Nightwing."

She frowned at him. "We only did what you do. We stopped Blockbuster from hurting anyone else. You can't turn me in because we killed him, you kill too!"

"You killed Blockbuster?" Roy questioned in shock. "And Nightwing-"

"He was right there with me!" she cheered. "Oh, it was so nice and afterwards, well, I don't kiss and tell." She laughed.

Dick's words floated into the forefront of Jason's mind. _"I must have really wanted it because she didn't stop even when I..."_

"What did you do to him, you -?" Jason growled at her, calling her what he thought was an appropriate name at the end.

"Well, that's not nice. There's nothing wrong with celebratory sex. I quite enjoyed it, even if I had to do all the work."

Jason ignored Roy's flinch at her words and went for his gun.


	13. Part 13 – Robin

**Part 13 – Robin**

The first shot missed but Jason didn't mind. He elbowed Roy in the gut as the archer moved to grab him and rushed forward.

Catalina laughed as he fired another shot. It nicked her under the arm but, to Jason's fury, she didn't seem to notice. His vision was hazed in red and orange. If he could just get rid of this one stain...

"Red Hood, wait!"

Red and black flashed in his vision and Jason reacted before he understood what was going on. He whipped his gun into Robin's face.

That wasn't enough to stop the replacement. It would figure that Bruce would find someone stupid enough to keep going even when being shot at. Robin surged forward, bo staff in hand, saying something that Jason just didn't listen to.

Jason went to punch the kid, who moved out of the way and tried to hit him with the staff. It seemed he had improved since the last time they had fought.

Jason turned back to where Catalina had been. In the short time he had been distracted by Robin, Catalina had vanished.

He pounced on the brat and held him to the ground. "She got away because of you!" he shouted. "What are you doing here, you stupid replacement?"

"Oracle gave me your coordinates. She thought you might do something stupid like try to kill Tarantula."

"She deserves it! People like her, they don't even realise how they hurt their victims! She's a monster and deserves to die since she'll never realise what she's done."

Robin frowned at him. "Do you realise how you hurt people when you kill?" The kid said it in the calmest voice, as if Jason wasn't holding a gun to his forehead. Then, he had the nerve to completely look past Jason. "Arsenal, are you alright?"

"I've been better," Roy groaned out. "I just didn't expect to get shocked with my own taser weapons."

Right. Jason had done that too. Reaching for the taser arrows had been instinctive. As had the motion of jabbing one into Roy after jabbing him with his elbow.

"That happens," Robin commented.

"This ain't a bloody tea party!" Jason growled at them both. He got up off Robin, pointing his two guns at the two heroes. "Tarantula's gone. And if she's smart, she's probably gone far underground where we'll never find her!"

"I think Batman's assessment of her was that she wasn't the smartest when it comes to being a vigilante."

"We'll find her, Jay," Roy said.

Jason glared at him. Downside of the helmet; Roy couldn't see the fury in his face. "What's this 'we'? I'm not working with you anymore. I'm going to hunt that abuser down and kill her. She won't be getting her claws in him again."

"In who again?" Robin questioned in a frustratingly innocent way.

"What, Oracle didn't tell you?" Jason spat. "That woman, the one you stopped me from killing, has been messing with Nightwing."

"Is that why he seems to have gone 'dark side'?" Robin asked.

"Part of the reason," Roy said with a grunt as he stood up. "Dang, Jay. You got me good."

What the- Jason was standing there, pointing guns at these two and they were chatting like everything was hunky-dory!

"We need to find her, where might she have gone?" Roy questioned.

Robin twitched, hanging his head. "I didn't get a chance to put a tracker on her, sorry."

"Don't worry about it, kid," Arsenal said. "We'll get her."

Jason rolled his eyes. Getting her wasn't the issue. Getting to her before she could hurt someone was.

"Even breath she takes is a sign that I'm not as powerful as I make myself seem. My way works because the scum believe that I can't be stopped and I won't stop until they're dead. I refuse to leave her alone."

Despite the mask, Jason could see Tim roll his eyes. "I'm sure we can find her, we just need to put our heads together. Where would she hide?"

"Oracle's trying to track where she went from here but that's going to take a while," Roy announced, Tim nodding because he knew that too.

Jason growled. He didn't care.

"We can find her faster," Tim said with the air of a promise that gave Jason pause. Surely the kid didn't really believe that? But, it seemed so, judging by the way he continued talking. "So, what do we know about her? Where does she like to go? What does she like to do? Are there certain crimes she'd gravitate towards?"

Jason shared a look with Roy, who looked as baffled as he felt. They both shrugged in unison.

"Nightwing might know," Roy pointed out.

"All I know is she used to be obsessed with him," Jason responded, trying to not relive her words from a few moments ago.

Tim frowned thoughtfully. "So Nightwing might know-"

"We can't go to Nightwing," Arsenal was quick to point out. "He doesn't even know that we were going after her."

Tim looked surprised at that. "But, she hurt him, surely he knows-" The replacement's mouth clicked shout. "She said that she had to do all the work." It was shocking to realise that Tim could go paler than he already was. "I'm jumping to the wrong conclusions again. There's no way Nightwing would let her have her way with him."

"It can happen to anyone," Jason countered. "Including Nightwing."

Tim shivered. "Then, where is he? Why isn't anyone with him? Is he okay?" Jason recoiled as the skinny kid barrelled into him, latching onto his jacket frantically as he fired off question after question.

"He's fine, Robin. He's back in Bludhaven," Roy said.

Tim glared at the archer. "You can't be sure of that, especially if he's in Bludhaven." After a pause, he added, "you don't think she'd go after him?"

* * *

In fact, once the idea had been brought up, it turned out they all agreed that she might go after Dick. Roy, Jason and Tim jumped onto the next train to Bludhaven. To save time, they rode along the top in full costume.

"This is insane! Why can't we sit in the nice, safe seats?" Roy howled into the wind.

"At least you're not blindfolded!" Tim shot back with all the confidence of someone who had done this blindfolded. Jason decided that he kind of wanted to hear the story of the replacement train surfing. It'd be good for a few laughs after they get rid of Catalina.

Jason led the way to his safe house, his heart thudding harder the closer they got.

They would arrive and it would turn out that they were worried over nothing, Jason tried to tell himself. But he just couldn't make himself believe it.

They found the door to the safe house wide open. Tim gripped his staff and pointed to the roof. They had already decided that he would stay out of sight until they confirmed the situation with Dick. Jason didn't think springing Robin on Renegade would be good and Tim agreed. Dick was likely to run or yell at him.

Catalina's voice was snappish as it trailed through the open door.

"Decide quickly. I have places to be, Nightwing."

Dick's voice was tight with emotion as he responded, "I know but-"

"What 'but'? You just said it, Red Hood abandoned you."

"He's gone," Dick sounded certain as he responded with that. "Took his helmet and weapons with him..."

"And he shot me. Come on, Nightwing. You can't stay with someone like that. He's the kind of guy we fight against."

"I-I don't... Jay's... he's not..."

Jason ducked his head past the frame to see Dick on the couch, Catalina straddling his lap and running her hands along his arms. Dick had to be more panicked than he appeared because he was slipping and on the edge of using real names with her, a slip that Batman had trained them to never make.

"He didn't mean it," Dick muttered.

Catalina rolled her eyes. "He doesn't want you here."

"I know."

"I just need a few more moments," Tim whispered through the comm. He sounded apologetic and it was the only reason Jason didn't go in and stop this train wreck in its tracks.

"Come on." Catalina pulled herself off him and tugged his arm. Almost like a limp doll, Dick rolled to his feet. "Good boy." She moved forward and kissed him. Dick stood there and let her.

Jason had to look away from the almost-emotionless eyes Dick had. He didn't close them as he kissed her, probably preferring to keep her in his sight. "I'll reward you properly once we get out."

"You killed someone. What if… I don't-"

"Nonsense." She dismissed his concerns instantly. "You were right there. You know I had to do it. And I had to leave you. But I'm here now. Come with me."

Jason hadn't been expecting it, which is why he hadn't been able to stop Roy as he walked right into the room.

"Lady, that's not cool."


	14. Part 14 – Captured

**Part 14 – Captured**

* * *

There was silence following Roy's words. He had readied his bow and he used the stunned silence to nock an arrow and draw back the string, ready to fire.

Reflexively, Dick moved to shield Catalina, standing defensively before her.

"Arsenal, what are you doing?"

Roy raised his eyebrows and Jason sighed. He knew that any shot at Catalina would mean going through Dick.

"Helping you," Roy responded. He turned to Catalina. "And you, get away from him."

"Have we done something wrong?" Catalina asked, curling an arm around Dick's bicep. "Are you here to arrest us?"

Dick's face paled. "Arsenal. I know we did something wrong, killed a man but still!" Dick's voice trailed off as he struggled to figure out what to say.

Jason's chest constricted. Dick thought they were there to arrest him. Jason remembered that despair. He recalled the way it always hurt to see someone he had known before turn up and try to stop him.

Jason was good at being seen as the bad guy. Maybe it was time to remind them of that. This was not a situation they could solve by jumping in and arresting the criminal. It required a certain finesse.

Each step he took sent a thump through the floorboards.

"Catalina. Let him go," Jason ordered. Her hands tightened around Dick's arm. Jason pulled his gun. "Renegade, you're going to get out of the way."

"What?" Dick's voice sounded weak after the certainty and strength in Jason's.

Jason lowered his head a little, simulating a disappointed stance. He did a little flourish as he put the gun away. "I'm not going to shoot her, if you get over here right now. You work for me and I'm not going to let you go running off with two-bit crooks."

Catalina glared. "I run a successful gang and you're a loner! You don't need help, Red Hood."

"I usually don't. But he's one of the few people I'll allow to work directly with me," Jason countered with a nod at Dick as Dick slowly extracted himself from Catalina's grasp.

"Sorry. But he's right. I work for him." Jason rolled his eyes at Dick's apologetic tone. Only Dick could apologise to a woman who was trying to make him turn his back on family.

Catalina frowned. "Alright. I'll go then." She turned towards the window, which Robin dropped in front of.

"S-Stop right there," he said, blocking off the escape route. "I can't let you escape."

Jason felt Dick tense at the sight of Robin. He couldn't be sure if it was because Robin was in the room or if it was because Robin was standing up to Dick's abuser.

"You really think you can stop me, kid?" Catalina asked.

"Leave him alone!" Dick barked at her, his voice echoing Batman's for a moment. It was close enough to make the hairs on the back of Jason's neck rise.

"I'm not going to hurt him," Catalina said. Dick flinched back. "He's just standing in my way."

"Don't talk to him," Roy said, stepping between Dick and Catalina. He pulled up his bow, aiming the tip of the arrow at her shoulder.

"Arsenal?" Dick questioned quietly. So quietly that Jason could only hear him because he was standing right next to him.

"You've got a past with her. Let us deal with her instead," Jason countered, somehow sensing that Dick was a moment away from either trying to help Catalina or from running out on them and attempting to contact or arrest Catalina later on.

"You've got to be kidding," Dick hissed a little fire coming back to his eyes.

"You're planning to fight in pants and shirt?" Jason queried, eyeing Dick's clothes.

"I've fought in less." And wasn't that a disturbing thought.

"You're not fighting her. We don't have history with her, we're here so we're taking her down."

"She hasn't done anything wrong!" Jason took a moment to suppress the heat of rage which rushed through him during which Dick grabbed his arm. "Have them arrest me! It's my fault."

"You shouldn't believe that," Jason said, physically recoiling. Dick still gripped him, arm extending as Jason moved back. "She has done wrong and you know it. She's manipulating you!"

Dick yanked on Jason's arm, face pale with fury and horror. "Shut up, Jason! It takes one to know one, you insane murderer!"

"Don't compare me to her!" Jason bellowed back.

"Red Hood, Night-I mean, Renegade! A little help!" Robin cried out, ducking as Catalina tossed a knife in his direction. A moment later, she was in his space. Robin cursed.

Jason focused back on the fight. Roy had been forced to put his bow away or risk hitting Robin. He was now trying to grapple Catalina, who kept using gymnastics to keep out of his hold.

Their fighting was sloppy and it was the only reason she had managed to hold out as long as she had.

"They're letting their emotions decide the fight," Jason huffed. He stormed into the fight, leaping over the couch in order to get close to Catalina. No guns, just fists.

He punched her in the face and then swept her feet out from under her. She gave a cry as she hit the ground and then flipped back up, only for Roy to finally have the chance to fire a net-deploying trick arrow at her.

"Whoa," Robin said in awe as the trick arrow deployed.

"You still carry that?" Jason queried, remembering rumours of the trick arrows which captured. He had also heard that the arrow family had stopped using them because they were difficult to aim, the deploying net threw the aimed trajectory off, but also because it was too easy for the criminal to dodge.

"It comes in handy sometimes," Roy responded with a shrug. He couldn't resist kicking Catalina who let out a panicked cry and glared at him.

Dick inched forwards.

"Renegade. Stay where you are," Jason ordered.

"Red Hood," Dick stated. "I don't have to follow your orders."

"But you will," Jason responded with certainty. He needed to be certain of it. Dick was responding to that.

"Y-you know she needs to be tried," Robin added his logic.

"I'm sure they find something to charge her with," Roy muttered under his breath. "Just pick from the list of offences."

Catalina changed her strategy. Instead of glaring at them, she turned a mournful gaze to Dick.

"You wouldn't let them turn me in. Remember the fun times we had?"

Dick tensed, Jason moved back over to him so that they were almost touching shoulder-to-shoulder and Roy gave the woman another kick.

"Arsenal!" Dick scolded.

"Beats Jason shooting her. His hand twitches towards his gun whenever she speaks."

Jason realised with a shock that Roy was right. And very perceptive about certain things. That could be a problem.

"I can escape," Catalina said. "Or they'll let me go when I turn on Nightwing instead."

"You could run," Robin stated nervously. He had his bo staff in his hands but wasn't doing anything with it except keeping himself armed. "But, if you do, you won't have a moment of peace."

"What?"

"We found you before, we found you now and we'll find you again if we have to. I can locate you and freeze your accounts, alert the authorities and any vigilantes in the area, all without leaving Gotham," Tim rambled. "Thanks to Nightwing, I know almost the whole hero community."

"Is that true?" Jason asked Dick, impressed with the kid's intimidation tactics. They were innocent compared to his own but would still get the job done, shown by the way Catalina slumped in defeat.

"He is determined," Dick responded, recalling a scrawny teenager who had turned up at his apartment and then at a manor and then during a mission. "Once he sets his mind to something, he doesn't stop."


	15. Part 15 – Commissioner Gordon

**Part 15 – Commissioner Gordon**

* * *

Tim had a very terrifying spray which knocked Catalina out the moment he sprayed it into her face for a few moments. He announced proudly that he had been the one to develop it using some of the compounds Batman had already been experimenting with.

As Jason expected, Dick protested when they started talking about where to take Catalina.

"Dick, get out of the room," Jason finally huffed. Dick was right up in his personal space and they were almost yelling at each other. Dick was saying how Catalina didn't deserve what they were doing and that there was nothing going on while Jason insisted that she had a long list of crimes and Dick was lucky he hadn't shot her yet; not for lack of trying.

"I'm not leaving you alone with her!" Dick's voice was insistent but the slight furrowing of his brows suggested that he was less angry and more worried this time.

"I'll be fine," Jason insisted, not used to people worry about him. "Get out. Take the kid and go patrol or something."

Tim perked up from where he had been sitting, slouched on Dick's kitchen bench.

"Yeah!" he said excitedly and Jason couldn't figure out if he was really excited or if he knew that Jason was trying to get Dick to leave and that this was the only method he could think of.

"Renegade shouldn't be caught hanging out with Robin," Dick said.

Jason shook his head at Dick's foolishness. "I don't care if Renegade hangs around with Robin. Just don't forget that you might have to face him in battle one day."

"Unlikely," Tim said with certainty and a wide grin.

"You're just a smug little brat, aren't you?" Jason shot at him. Dick nudged him in the side, warning him quietly to 'play nice'.

Tim didn't answer and Jason couldn't tell if he was being wise and not provoking him or just being an irritating little brat and ignoring him.

"Renegade, go teach the little brat a lesson about skill or something," Jason said to Dick in a dismissive tone. Dick tilted his head questioningly and Jason simplified it into an order, "go patrol. I don't think the criminals care who beats them up."

Tim decided he was done waiting for Dick to decide and came over, almost pulling a stunned Renegade out of the room.

"Wait a moment, I need to get changed!" Dick stated the moment Tim pulled him over the threshold. He dashed back in and not even half a minute later, was walking out in the red uniform of Renegade.

* * *

There was silence for a few moments. Neither Roy nor Jason looked at each other or the unconscious body on the ground. While he didn't smoke often, Jason felt the need for a cigarette. Anything to get his mind of the storm of drama they were just holding at bay.

"Are you going to kill her?" Roy asked.

"I should," Jason huffed. However, something was stilling his hand.

"Dick will never forgive you."

"I don't care. It's not like we're family or something."

"You said you wouldn't." And there was the problem. Jason took his promises seriously. Even if Dick didn't see the same level of commitment that Jason had, Dick had still trusted him on his word. He would not kill Tarantula.

"And it sucks."

"I could kill her for you."

Jason's head snapped up to look at Roy. The red head's face was flat and serious.

"I don't let people do my dirty work," Jason responded in a low tone. He didn't care if Roy was willing to kill for Dick, Jason didn't stand by and let people dirty their own hands when he could do it.

Jason ignored the quiet whisper in his head which reminded him that he couldn't kill her without breaking his word and to just let Roy do it since he was offering.

"Should we take her to prison then? Drop her off on the doorstep of the 'Haven police department?"

"No," Jason decided. "Not 'Haven. The police are corrupt and Catalina's smart enough to slip through the cracks. Gotham."

"How is Gotham any better?" Roy questioned.

For one thing, the people in prison would make her re-think ever committing a crime in this area again, Jason thought but did not say.

"Oracle can pull strings in the police department. And, if we discreetly let them know what we suspect her of, Gordon at least will make sure she's tried and put away."

Roy thought about it for only a few moments before specifically talking to Oracle on the other side of their comm.

"You got that?" he asked her. "We'll take her to Gotham."

"Got it," Oracle responded. "Should I let the Commissioner know about her history with 'Wing?"

"No," Jason said. This was better said in person, where he could gauge whether the Commissioner was still the clever and law-abiding man he remembered. "But let them know that Catalina is about to be dropped off and give them all they need to charge her with murder and whatever else you want tacked on there that she's done."

"Got it."

* * *

Tim was a clever kid. He had left them the knock out spray with instructions on how to use it and what signs to look for in case Catalina entered some kind of distress from a chemical reaction.

"If she was allergic, we would have noticed by now," Roy mentioned as he read of the information. "And couldn't he just write 'allergic'?"

"There are other kinds of reactions. She could be on something we don't know about, there could be an unfortunate reaction and she'll slip into a coma or-"

"You sound way too happy about those options," Roy pointed out, although the corners of his mouth were twitching.

"Let's just get her to Gotham," Jason said, changing the subject.

They grabbed her and took her on the train. Roy suggested dowsing her in alcohol and saying that she was passed out drunk and they were her friends taking her home.

Because no one would question the guy in the red hood and the archer fellow of foul play, Jason thought sarcastically. Jason took off his hood and put on a pair of sunglasses, looking almost normal if one ignored the body armour and weapons. Roy questioned whether he was still wearing a mask under the glasses, endlessly amused by the response; a 'of course'. He kept looking at the glasses and grinning like an idiot.

Even though they had snuck into the cargo hold, Jason was alert for anything even the slightest bit off. Whenever Catalina looked like she was about to wake, they sprayed her back to sleep.

It was a dull journey back.

* * *

Red Hood and Arsenal met the Commissioner atop the police department, next to the bat signal. The Commissioner stiffed when he spotted them coming out of the darkness, Catalina slung over Roy's shoulder.

"You are certainly not who I expected," he said. Part of Jason thought he was foolish for not going to his gun the moment he recognised the Red Hood. Another part was impressed.

"Yeah, well, Bats wouldn't catch this one," Jason commented as Arsenal placed Catalina on the ground.

"We received her information. However," the Commissioner hummed as if tossing up whether to continue or not, "it sounds as if there's more to the story."

"You're a smart man, Commissioner," Roy commented. Jason was in silent agreement.

"She's done something that I don't think we'll ever be able to charge her with." Because Jason knew that Dick would never come forward. Jason knew the culture. The one where men were supposed to be able to defend themselves and women needed the protecting. Sadly, it was not the truth. There were many different people out there, which meant people like Catalina existed, regardless of gender.

Jason also doubted whether Dick could come forward without compromising his identity.

"It is not our story to tell. However, I will tell you as much as I can so that you make sure this woman ends up behind bars."

Commissioner Gordon nodded and relaxed a little.

"It needs to stay between us," Roy added.

"Understood."

"From what we can tell, she stalked and then entered into an abusive relationship with Nightwing," Jason said. It was much easier to say it now. Whether it was the distance from Bludhaven and Dick or that dealing with her was almost over and he just had to make sure she stayed away from their family for good, he didn't know. "She manipulated him emotionally during a hard time in his life and there has been at least one case of her forcing herself on him."

To his credit, Commissioner Gordon did not ask if they were sure or any other stupid questions. However, he did frown down at the woman.

"Is Nightwing okay?"

"Far from it," Roy answered. "He joined up Red Hood." Although they had both noticed that Dick was playing at being okay around them and upped the act to another level around Robin.

The Commissioner raised his eyebrows and gave Jason a look.

"He's emotionally dependant," Jason said shortly. "But I'm not a shrink," not officially, "so I can't say for sure." And, defending himself, he added, "Nightwing was practically offering himself up to Deathstroke. I think it's good I got to him first."

"Take care of him," Commissioner Gordon said. He didn't look at Roy or Jason as he spoke, making it unclear which of them he was speaking to. "I don't need two criminal ex-Robins in this city. One's enough." He finished with a pointed look at Jason.


	16. Part 16 – Alfred

**Part 16 – Alfred**

* * *

Jason wished he could say that a weight had been lifted off his chest but all he felt was drained. He was well aware that this was only partlyover. Catching Catalina has been the easy part. The hard half was getting Dick to stop reacting to people with a facade. Jason knew that part of their lives was an act, which was part of being a vigilante. However, he also knew that Dick shouldn't be putting up an act with people he was close with like Roy and Tim.

And maybe him.

Jason might be a touch annoyed that Dick kept altering his behaviour to what he thought would make Jason happy.

He took the train back in civvies to make Roy happy. He bought tickets and they sat in the seats and everything. It was a waste of money when they could have ridden on top of the train.

Roy seemed pleased and full of energy as he bounded up the steps to the door of Jason's safe house. He opened it first and Jason ran right into him.

"What's going on?" Jason grumbled as he hadn't expected Roy to suddenly stop.

"Uh, is that who I think it is?"

Jason looked over Roy's shoulder to see Tim, Dick and Rose Wilson sitting at the table and sharing two pizzas between them. Rose wasn't wearing her headgear, her silver-white hair flowing down her back as she swallowed her slice of pizza in a few bites. Jason watched as she pulled a knife from her belt and used it to lift another slice from the box.

"Why is Ravager sitting at the table?" Jason asked Tim because he was supposed to be the sensible one.

"Congratulations, Jason!" Tim responded with a grin.

Jason was confused.

"What is going on?" Roy questioned.

"The Society is in inner turmoil," Rose announced, rubbing pizza sauce off her face with her arm. "Dad thought I would be safer away from him until he could secure his piece of whatever's left when the dust settles."

"And Dick convinced Rose to join the Teen Titans!"

"What?" Roy and Jason said in unison. Jason didn't think Rose would join the Teen Titans.

"Aren't they like a group of goody-two-shoes?" Jason questioned. He looked to Rose. "Good luck with them, I guess."

Rose shrugged. "Maybe I'll bring a few to the bad side."

"As long as you don't do anything that'll get anyone hurt or arrested," Dick said.

Jason couldn't believe what he was hearing. "And I guess there's something in it for you?" he said to Rose.

"I get to learn from Dick. Dad's pretty happy with that, although he's kind of annoyed that Tim convinced him that being with the Teen Titans was the safest place for me."

"Tim did a good job," Dick said, ruffling Tim's hair. The teenager grinned widely and Jason felt the urge to gag.

"Right. Anyone not legal, out," he said.

"Um, that covers you man," Roy pointed out.

"My safe house, my rules. I'm exempt."

"Point. I should head off and get Rose introduced to the Teen Titans," Tim mused. He slid off the chair and walked towards the window.

Rose groaned and frowned, not moving.

"I'll see you this weekend for our first training session," Dick said, although he shot a worried glance at Jason for a moment, "and, until then, you can get to know the team."

"It's kind of liked super powered high school," Jason informed her. "Except there's no teachers or lessons, unless you count yours with Dick, which makes it kind of lame. All that's left is dealing with teenagers."

Rose stuck her tongue out at him and he shrugged, not really caring. Tim had tensed when Jason spoke about the Teen Titans, probably remembering that one time he had attacked them in order to get to Tim.

* * *

Tim and Rose managed to leave without incident. Jason made himself a cup of tea and practically threw himself onto his couch. He switched on the TV, flicking through channels until he found some action move to watch.

Dick dropped down on the couch next to him.

"You're not mad?" he asked.

Jason shot a look at him. Dick's expression was flat. He turned back to the screen. It was better that he couldn't see the expression he suspected Catalina put on his brother's face. It was better if he just believed Dick was asking because Jason didn't like the Teen Titans; and Tim, rather than being worried that Jason would ask him to leave.

"Of course not."

"I'm going to be hanging out with the Teen Titans on the weekend."

"We don't have to be together all the time," Jason countered in frustration.

Dick didn't seem convinced. "I'll be with the Teen Titans as Renegade."

Jason paused for a moment as an idea occurred to him. "Then, just go as Nightwing." Maybe he could help Dick reclaim his costume, even if it's only behind the doors of wherever place the Teen Titans were living in.

Dick looked shocked for a moment before hiding it behind a question. "Really? I don't exactly have a Nightwing costume on me."

"We'll fix that tomorrow," Jason said, taking a sip of his tea. "Now, we're watching this movie."

* * *

Jason regretted saying that Dick could be Nightwing while training Rose. If he had known that it would mean going back to Gotham to see Alfred, he would have just let Renegade go.

"Why?" he questioned as they walked up the path towards Wayne Manner. Dick had been careful to pick a time Bruce was normally at work. Jason didn't need to check that, he knew. He found it a little disturbing that Dick kept track of Bruce like that, especially since Jason only did it because the man was Batman and a threat to his work.

"Because I might have uniforms in Bludhaven but I need Alfred to take a look at them and possibly make me a new one."

"A new one? Really? You have your old ones."

"I… don't want to wear them. They feel dirty."

"Clean freak," Jason grumbled, shooting his mouth off before the real reason for Dick's uncomfortable feeling in costume hit. Tarantula had forced him while in costume. "Good," he said to Dick's face. "You know what, let's just get Alfred to make you a new one and burn the old ones." Maybe this would give him the confidence to clean up after himself in their apartment. Or the confidence to burn things to the ground. Jason was fine with either but would prefer the cleaning up.

Dick took a deep breath as they stood before the main entrance to Wayne Manor. He turned back to Jason, as if to convince himself that his brother was still standing there. In truth, Jason was only still standing there because he had a feeling Dick would look back. He had promised to be there and he couldn't run away now, no matter how much his heart was pounding in his chest.

Dick raised his hand and knocked.

Alfred opened the door and paused when he saw Dick. "Master Dick, why didn't you let yourself in?"

"I didn't want to be a bother," Dick responded, glancing back once again to check that Jason was still there.

Alfred caught the look and spotted Jason. Jason tensed. There were new wrinkles on Alfred's face and he seemed so much smaller than he had back when Jason had been living here. Back then, Alfred had towered over him as they navigated places like the kitchen.

"Master Jason."

"Hey, Alf," Jason said with a small wave. His smile quivered on his face, a moment away from dropping. His mind reminded him of all the things he had done. Surely Alfred wouldn't let him into the house.

"Come in," Alfred said as a warm smile flickered onto his face. He opened the door wide. "Both of you boys. Come in."


	17. Part 17 – Costumes

**Part 17 – Costumes**

* * *

Alfred made things simple. He invited them in and gave them tea and biscuits. He smiled slightly as he checked how many sugar to put in. The smells and his unchanging demeanour were relaxing.

"Alfred, I can do it," Jason said, reaching forward.

"Don't deprive me of my usefulness, Master Jason," Alfred responded firmly. "Now, one sugar as always? And two for you, Master Dick?"

"Yes, please," Dick said, moving his cup closer to Alfred so he didn't have to reach for it.

As he stirred in the sugar, Alfred asked mildly, "so, is there a reason you are gracing me with your presences or should I consider myself lucky that two boys I consider like my own grandchildren have decided to pay dear old me a visit."

It was amazing how guilty Alfred could make them feel even while being polite and welcoming.

"Dick needs a new Nightwing costume," Jason informed him. "He'll be visiting the Teen Titans this weekend but his old costumes... aren't suitable."

Alfred raise an eyebrow but held back whatever comment was rolling around in his mind.

"I see. Same as before or are we making changes to the design?"

"What do you think? Same as before?" Jason asked Dick, curious. He didn't think there were any changes that needed to be made. "I'm fine as long as you don't go back to whatever you call what you were wearing while I was Robin."

"I concur with Master Jason's comments. I refuse to see you in such an outfit while fighting crime again."

Dick frowned, although there was a playful sparkle in his eyes and voice. "What are you talking about? That costume was hip for the time."

Jason rolled his eyes. "No one says 'hip' anymore old man."

"They did during that time," Dick countered.

"Which is not now," Alfred pointed out. "I'll make the same as before and it'll be ready in two days."

Jason had a horrible thought. "You won't tell B about our visit, will you?"

"Master Bruce is privy to knowledge of all visitors to his manor while he is not present," Alfred pointed out.

Dick placed his tea cup on the table, hands shaking enough that they could hear the clatter as he placed it.

Alfred gave Jason a look which Jason returned, along with a small shake of his head to hopefully keep the old butler from making a comment.

"Whatever. Not like he cares to ask," Jason snorted, hoping to calm Dick down with the knowledge that Bruce won't know if he doesn't ask.

* * *

"Master Jason, could you help me take these to the kitchen to be cleaned?" Alfred said as he picked up their empty cups and placed them on a tray.

Jason could see that the butler had it all in hand and was slightly confused as to why Alfred was asking him for help. There was only one way to find out though.

"Of course," he responded, standing up and picking up the sugar container.

"Master Dick, could I trouble you to go and collect my measuring tape? I would like to re-take your measurements and see if you have grown since I last made you a costume."

"I'm an adult now, Alfred," Dick said, "and finished growing. But if you're sure-"

"Well, if you haven't been eating well in Bludhaven then you may have lost a few inches," Alfred mused.

Dick snorted a laugh. "No way. I'm as tall as I ever was."

"That is to say, short," Jason shot in since he was taller than Dick. Even Alfred was slightly taller than the acrobat.

Dick glared at Jason but rushed off to do the job Alfred asked of him.

"Just trying to keep him busy," Alfred hummed as they walked to the kitchen. "So we can have a moment alone." Jason swallowed. That didn't sound good. "I would have to be blind to not notice how Master Dick has changed. And I do not need my measuring tape to know that he has lost weight."

Jason sighed. He could have guessed that without Alfred telling him. Dick ate like a bird and excised enough for both of them. He was pushing himself and Jason wondered if it had to do with pleasing the people around him or trying to forget what Catalina did to him.

"He's been... hurt." Jason's stomach dropped just thinking about taking about it. His trigger finger itched. "It's not my story to tell but it was bad. The person behind it is in prison so don't worry about her."

"I will worry if it is prudent of me to do so," Alfred said. "How secure is this woman?"

"Commissioner Gordon will make sure she stays there and Babs is backing him up as Oracle, without his knowledge."

"Should I question the exact nature of what she did to hurt him?"

"Probably best not to," Jason responded. He placed the items he had been carrying next to the coffee machine. "I'm trying to build up his confidence again."

Jason waited for the scolding. The questioning of why he was doing this when he was Red Hood, the murderer in Batman's eyes. He was not, and never would be, a part of the Bat Clan.

"Good," Alfred stated. Jason waited for more but Alfred just continued soaking the cups.

"Well?" Jason asked.

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "I believe you are doing what you believe to be the right thing by Dick and I agree with the action you are taking. It's more than Master Bruce has done the past few months."

Jason grumbled a little under his breath about what he thought about B and his habit of not looking after the strays he took in.

* * *

Dick did as Alfred asked, moving around as instructed and letting the measuring tape be tightened around his body. Jason got stuck with writing down Goldie's measurements as Alfred read them out.

"Hmm, best to add an inch to that measurement," Alfred said every now and then. "I do expect you to add that lost weight back, Master Dick."

"Y-Yeah," Dick stammered. "As long as Jason keeps cooking the way he is, then I should have them back."

Jason bit back a comment about how it would help if Dick actually ate more than a few bites to be polite when offered food. Maybe he could bring this up the next time Dick pushes away a partly filled plate and guilt him into eating the rest.

"Excellent," Alfred said. He took the last few measurements and took the clipboard from Jason. "I will give you boys a call when I am finished."

"Thanks, Alfred," Dick sighed happily as he gave his stiff body a shake. Being still while being measured was difficult for him. Even so, there was a small smile on his face and the tightness around his shoulders was gone. He was almost completely comfortable and Jason didn't see that often.

Jason nodded his thanks to Alfred.

* * *

Dick left the night before to make sure he reached the Teen Titans by the time he had told Tim. Without access to the Batjet, Dick had to leave earlier than usual on a regular flight. Since Alfred had surprisingly and personally delivered Dick's uniform the day before that, as promised, Jason had a fridge full of the butlers delicious cooking.

All. To. Him.

Jason was reminded of the freedoms of living for just himself and determined to enjoy these few days without his big brother around, making little comments on his life here and there.

Then there was a knock at the door. He groaned while going over all the people who could be on the other side.

Figuring that Roy Harper was the most likely culprit, somewhere in town and knew where Jason's safe house was, he opened the door.

The scowl on his face intensified as his eyes focused on the person on the other side.

"Bruce?" Kind of. He wasn't dressed as Batman but he wasn't in a suit either. Just jeans and a black shirt.

"Jason. May I come in?"

Thoughts rang with clamour in Jason's head, each demanding to be voiced. The regular thoughts about why the Joker was still alive after killing Jason, the anger of his death meaning nothing to B, and the rightness of his version of vigilantism and the need to make them understand why he did what he did. But, there were also thoughts on why B was here, did he know about what happened to Dick, why didn't he notice sooner, and why was it Jason's job to put Dick back on track when he didn't even follow the same track?

The conflicting rage and desire to sit down and talk warred against each other.

Jason slowly moved out of the way to let Bruce in.


	18. Part 18 – Bruce

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Oh golly this was a tough chapter to write. Making sure to get Bruce and Jason's characters as close to in character as possible for the story was difficult. This has seen so many parts edited, taken out, rearranged and ideas which never made it into the chapter. The ending though, which I just finished, has made me think that we might be near the end. I think there's only another chapter left in me for this story.

 

**Part 18 – Bruce**

* * *

Bruce walked in and managed to have a quick look around before Jason gathered his bearings.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded to know. Without the masks, he knew Bruce could see the angry glare he was sending his former mentor's way.

Bruce met Jason's eyes and they stared at each other for a few moments. Disgusting feelings twisted and curled in the centre of Jason's chest.

When Bruce didn't say anything and the itching of Jason's skin frustrated him to boiling point, Jason ordered, "get out." The more he looked at Bruce, the more irritated he felt. What was he doing here now anyway? He couldn't suddenly care. Was it because Dick was hanging around Jason?

Bruce continued to look at him.

"GET OUT NOW!" Jason bellowed in a growl. He cursed in annoyance as he had left his guns in his room, on the other side of Bruce.

"I heard about Catalina. You put her in prison," Bruce finally said in a tone that was all business.

Jason bristled but cooled a little towards Bruce with the reminder of Catalina redirecting some of his anger towards her and not Bruce. Jason crossed his arms and continued to stare Bruce down.

"Yeah. I did. You here to say something about it?"

"You didn't kill her."

Jason took a deep breath, huffing it out. "Do you know what she has done?"

Bruce's gaze dropped. For a moment, Jason's heart with light with a cry of _victory_. Bruce's following words were enough for Jason's heart to grow heavy again.

"The Commissioner and Oracle made sure I had enough information to piece it together." He looked up at Jason. The skin around his eyes was tight and his mouth was open a small amount in pause before he added, "she hurt Dick. Had already hurt him before I let her operate in my city."

Stupid Bruce for making him feel guilty. He never felt this guilty when facing Batman. "Hey, I didn't notice either."

"You knew something was wrong." Bruce shrugged. "I just thought he was going through a phase."

"A 'I'm going to join up with the first villain to take interest' phase?" Jason snorted. It was better to inject some humour rather than feeding the ball of hot anger in his gut from thinking about Bruce's approach to ex-Robins.

"He's been hurt and I didn't notice-"

"He didn't want you to," Jason pointed out. "I haven't even told him that we know. I'm not even sure he wants to admit it to himself."

Bruce groaned and walked around to plant himself on the couch. He put his head in his hands while Jason looked around for some way out of this situation. It was surreal.

"I don't know what to do."

"Join the club."

"She'll stay in prison, that's for sure. No Wayne-affiliated organisation will help her with parole until she's served her whole sentence. There's not much else I can do."

"Right," Jason said, only half-listening. How was he going to get Bruce off his couch and out of his apartment? Raging hadn't worked. Would calling Alfred help?

* * *

"Why didn't you kill her?" Bruce asked, sounding conflicted.

"Do you want me to?" Jason hung onto Bruce's every movement as he waited for the answer.

"No. But that doesn't stop you."

"Yeah. You're right. It doesn't stop me. I don't care about your approval, old man. I care about making sure that scum like her can't hurt anyone else." He had made this argument over and over again and Bruce never listened.

"And yet you let Catalina live."

"Because Dick would blame himself if she died." Jason crossed his arms and glared down at Bruce. "If I had killed her, he never would have forgiven himself. He didn't forgive himself for letting Catalina shoot Blockbuster dead. His mind twisted that into him being a killer." Jason wished he had a camera to take a picture of Bruce's shocked and baffled face.

He couldn't resist poking at B just a little more. "You know, if you didn't preach that 'no killing' rule of yours, then he probably wouldn't be in such a dark place now."

Bruce's shoulders tensed. "That's not how it works. There's a difference between someone dying on your watch and actually pulling the trigger. Especially in Dick's situation. I've been in situations where someone has died. You can't save everyone."

Jason snorted and lent back against the wall, fixing Bruce with a stare.

"That's not what you preach." Before Bruce could counter, he reminded him, "and don't you dare say otherwise. I was Robin, remember? I know. You give the impression that we need to save everyone, that we should take the blame for any death. Does it really surprise you that Catalina could twist Dick's thoughts to believing he's a murderer when you've already planted that seed?"

Bruce was silent, his brows furring in that way which meant he was thinking hard. It was strange seeing that look without the background of the cave and some case sitting open on the computer. It had been a long time since Jason had seen that look.

Bruce next words, when they finally came, stopped Jason's heart.

"Do you think the same? Do you blame yourself when someone dies outside of your control?"

Jason couldn't hide his flinch. He grabbed the nearest thing, a knife slipped up his sleeve, and tossed it at Bruce. "What does it matter?" he shouted. These were not questions Bruce should ever be asking! "I'm a killer and I know it. I choose to be!"

Bruce's body moved with the knife, flinching back as the blade sunk into his upper arm. Jason hadn't aimed for anywhere too dangerous. Blood welled up around the blade and a few drops streaked red trails down Bruce's arm.

The sight of the blood made something curl in Jason's stomach. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then Bruce's lips curled into a broken smile.

"Alfred's not going to be happy. I think I've ruined one of the good shirts."

"Just buy yourself another," Jason growled. Despite the sharp edge to his voice, it was a better response than the violent ones floating through his head. He was certain that, had Bruce reacted in any other way, Jason would have yelled at him or punched him. However, he couldn't deal with this emotional roller-coaster anymore. He decided to do the smart thing and leave. "Don't bleed out on my couch," he said as he left.

* * *

Jason spent hours just wandering around Bludhaven. He thought about his days of being just a crime lord who kept crime in order, punishing criminals and messing with Batman every now and then. The days before he took Dick in as Renegade.

"I didn't sign up for this," he sighed. He hadn't expected to care about the older man. He hadn't expected Dick to have circumstances which made it difficult for him to walk away.

His walk ended when a voice called out from behind him.

"Jason!"

"Dick? Why aren't you with the Teen Titans?"

Dick had run to catch him and was sweating and slightly winded. Jason's deductive mind figured out that he must have been running for a while; searching for him across Bludhaven?

"Oracle called. She said that Bruce came here to 'do something stupid'. Are you okay?"

Jason blinked to distract himself from Dick's gaze on him. He internally cursed since they weren't meant to care about each other, they weren't family!

"I'm fine."

"And Bruce?"

Jason sneered at the reminder of what he was avoiding. "Hopefully he decided to go back to Gotham." He purposely didn't mention stabbing Bruce with a knife.

Dick sighed in relief. "Let's go back then. I need to change uniforms for tonight."

Jason rolled his eyes but turned to start the walk back to the safe house. He paused a moment before opening the door and breathed a small sigh of relief when it opened to reveal an empty safe house.

Dick either didn't notice or decided not to comment because he bounced into the room with a grin.

"So, what are Red Hood and Renegade going to do tonight?"


	19. Part 19 – Damian's Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: This is it. The final chapter. There's a lot of stuff which could be filled in but, I feel doesn't really fit the focus of this story. If there's anyone out there who wants to write about the adventures of Renegade and Red Hood, they're free to. You can even use this story as the background for the team up if you wish, just don't go copy and pasting large chunks of this story into your own. Manners and common sense okay?
> 
> We end with Damian in the future. And a comment that makes him think.

 

**Part 19 – Damian's Questions**

"Robin!" Batman called out, grabbing the kid's hood and physically yanking him back and out of the way of Deathstroke's blade.

"Don't! I can fight him!" Robin growled, reaching for the latch to undo his cape.

Deathstroke stepped back, keeping his blade ready. "Kid, you're no Red Hood or Renegade. Step back and let the adults work this out."

"Deathstroke," Batman growled, his cape billowing out and around to shield Robin.

Robin was not a kid to be shielded and he stepped forward and back, away from them both. His eyes narrowed behind the mask.

"Who's Renegade?"

There was silence for a moment. Batman couldn't hide the surprise in his tone as he questioned Robin with, "Talia never mentioned that?"

The video froze, stopping Robin's response as Dick pressed the pause button.

"Oh no, keep going," Jason hummed in amusement. It was rare that anyone brought up Renegade these days.

Shortly after the Society imploded due to internal disagreements, Batman had made a request of Renegade and Red Hood. He wanted them to go undercover and locate certain criminals for him.

* * *

_"I can't believe he contacted you, only to give us work. Does he do anything outside of the job?"_

_"He used to," Dick sighed. "Should I tell him no?"_

_"Forget that. Black Mask and I have unfinished business. If I get to take him out instead of B, then I'm in."_

* * *

It had taken a few months to get in and complete the mission and Jason wasn't certain if he would have been able to do it without Dick. Mostly because Dick had acted as an in-between for Jason and Bruce. It was a role which caused Dick to almost quit at one point out of frustration and it was no surprise that after the mission was done, he decided he had enough of them both and ran off to become Nightwing again.

Jason had considered Nightwing's formal return to vigilantism a victory. However, even without Nightwing hanging around, it seemed the family had their claws in Jason. Tim turned up at random moments, either to chat, have breakfast or just catch up on sleep. Oracle checked in on him and sent him little family updates. Jason was certain those few times Nightwing crashed Red Hood's patrol nights were because he was checking up on Jason when Jason didn't contact anyone for 'too long'.

Jason could never figure out what time frame was 'too long' for Dick as it seemed to change every time.

"Talia never mentioned Renegade to the kid. So what?" Jason snorted.

Dick frowned, looking conflicted. "Should I tell him? Let him know that he's working with a former criminal?"

"Oh come on," Jason said with a roll of his eyes. Dick was being way too dramatic about this. "You know as well as I that everything we do is against the law. Not to mention the number of times Batman and his allies have been called 'public menaces' and hunted down by the cops."

"That's not what I mean and you know it."

"Dick, the kid gave up being an assassin to be your Robin. You gave up being Renegade to go back to being Nightwing. If anything, it'll probably help you bond with the little brat. You know, in the way fighting criminals and getting angry when he doesn't follow orders doesn't."

It seemed it was Dick's turn to roll his eyes.

* * *

Jason picked up a fork and ignored the glares Damian was sending his way. They both wondered what Jason was doing here in the Penthouse.

Damian had no idea of the talk Jason and Dick had down in the bunker and Jason had no idea how Dick managed to talk him into coming up for a meal.

"I'm guessing Hood is here because he has something to do with Renegade," Damian commented.

"Oh boy," Jason snorted as Dick confirmed that. The kid really didn't know anything.

"I don't care. After all, mother never saw fit to mention your sidekick."

Dick chocked on a bite of mash potato as Jason lost to laughter.

Damian went red-faced at their actions. "What is so funny, Todd?"

"Renegade wasn't a sidekick," Dick insisted.

"I don't know, he did work under me. Take my orders. Make sure I didn't get myself killed, again."

Dick winced at the mention of Jason's death. Jason had been sure to praise Renegade whenever the guy had come crashing in to save him. Even if Jason did have everything under control.

* * *

_Everyone's eyes went up to the broken skylight as the glass rained down on them._

_"Sounds like that's my cue." Red Hood moved out of the way right as the lights went out. He knew the skylight had been a distraction, probably triggered by a small explosion._

_As expected, the hood's night vision caught a figure moving around in the dark. Renegade took out a few of the grunts while Red Hood took care of the rest. When the last grunt fell, Red Hood grabbed Renegade's wrist and then had to move out of the way of the escrisma stick._

_"Don't bash your boss' head in," Red Hood joked._

_Renegade huffed. "I would hope that hood of yours is more than decoration."_

_"I am the most stylish guy around," Red Hood confirmed in a light tone. The lights came back on and he removed the hood to grin at Renegade. "Thanks for the save."_

_"Anytime."_

* * *

"Who was Renegade if not Todd's sidekick?" Damian asked, directing his question to Dick.

"That's complicated," Dick responded, running a hand through his hair.

It might have been complicated in the beginning but, there was a word which kind of covered the tag-along, irritation that was Renegade.

"Not really. He's kind of my older brother," Jason told them both. "My annoying, bossy and too soft older brother."

"No one thought I was 'too soft' after I took that guy's teeth out," Dick grumbled quietly. However, his brothers heard him.

Damian's mouth dropped open, eyebrows knitting as he wondered if he had heard that right. Jason snorted and took a sip of his drink. He remembered that torture session. Dick had slowly pulled out the poor guy's teeth.

"I noticed that you went straight for the teeth with holes in them."

"They're called cavities, Jason. And so?"

'See, soft,' Jason mouthed to Damian. Dick punched him in the arm.

Damian shook himself and turned to Dick. "Grayson. I order you to explain."

Jason snorted again. These two were idiots. No wonder Timmy had taken off to explore the world. He had designed a new costume and name for himself after he and Jason worked together to convince Dick that Gotham needed Batman and Dick was the prime candidate. Mostly because no one else wanted it and mostly because he already had everyone's respect.

"Dick was Renegade," Jason said before Dick could think of a 'soft' way to break it to the kid. "He worked with me."

Damian looked between them, trying to figure out if Jason was lying.

"I had a few run ins with Deathstroke as Renegade-"

"You and Tim ran off with his daughter," Jason reminded him. Damian looked annoyed and disgusted. At Jason. For some reason. "I had nothing to do with it. I came home to find them all sitting at the table like great friends."

"I don't understand why you've never mentioned this to me," Damian said to Dick.

"It's a closed chapter of my life," Dick responded with a shrug. "It wasn't like I would be taking up the Renegade name again."

"But you worked for Todd." There was that disgusted tone again.

"He scouted me."

"You put yourself out there," Jason reminded him as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked the message. "Roy's got himself in trouble again."

"What kind of trouble?" Dick questioned in a worried tone. "Do you need us?" Jason knew Dick was talking about Batman and Robin.

Even if he did, Jason wouldn't accept. Red Hood still had standards.

"Nah. He just needs some help with a case he picked up since he spent all his rent on parts. Again." This made three times. Jason was going to lock Roy out of the account and give him another one where an allowance would be deposited after each payday. Jason was not losing the apartment because Roy had terrible spending habits.

"Again?" Damian snickered.

"Come outside with me, kid," Jason said as he stood up. Thanked Alfred for the meal and managed to get Damian outside and admiring his bike with some assistance from Dick. "You want to know about Renegade?" he said, "talk to Oracle. I'll make sure she knows what to show you."

"What to show me?" Damian questioned.

"There's more to the story of how Nightwing became Renegade." Jason frowned with the thought. There had been a few times when Jason had contemplated breaking in and killing Catalina. "He wasn't treated well and didn't think he had any place being a hero." He would owe Oracle so much for attempting to explain it to the kid.

"-tt- So?" Damian sneered as if he couldn't imagine Dick being anything but the hero Damian knew, even though he was silly and annoying at times.

"Ask Oracle," Jason said. "And don't let it change the way you see Dick. He's a strong guy."

* * *

_Red Hood shoved the door open, ignoring the bang it made as it hit the wall. He stood tall and proud as he walked over to where Renegade was tied up. Black Mask's goon stood there with a gun to Renegade's head._

_"He's mine," Red Hood growled._

_"He was snooping where he shouldn't been. The Boss wants to see him."_

_"Oh, I see," Red Hood moved quickly, shooting the man's arm and then knocking him out. He untied Renegade, who gave him a weak smile._

_"Thanks."_

_"You get the information?"_

_Renegade nodded, giving him a smug look as he glanced down at the middle finger of his glove where they both knew there was a small flash drive hidden._

_"Good job. Let's get out of here."_


End file.
